Rivals, Friends, and Lovers
by Blood Shinobi
Summary: COMPLETE. Sakura's and Ino's rivalry has become so bad that they are forced to spend a week alone in a forest to turn their rivalry into frienship. The events during that week will change their lives forever. InoSaku,Shojo-ai,Lime
1. Morning Call

Title: Rivals, Friends, and Lovers

Author: Blood Shinobi

Disclaimer: I never have and never will own Naruto.

Summary: Ino's and Sakura's rivalry has become so bad that their senseis orders them to do something special in order to permanently remove their rivalry. Shoujo-ai & InoSaku much later on.

A/N: My first uploaded story on and my first Naruto fic.

Both Sakura and Ino are 16 and Chuunins in this story.

_Italic text is when someone is thinking_

Please enjoy!

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**Rivals, Friends and Lovers**

**Chapter 1: Morning Call**

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A late night in Konoha.

The apartment's doorbell was ringing endlessly, and refused to stop. Whoever was outside the door was not going away.

"I'm coming, dammit!"A morning grumpy Sakura yelled from the other side of the door.

She stepped out from her bedroom, wearing her black morning robe, hair uncombed and messy. She had no makeup on which made her look as if she had just stepped out of the bed, which was true of course. While walking to the door she took a quick glance at the clock and saw it was 4:58 AM, which really made her frustrated. Why the hell would someone come and knock on her door this early? It better not be some stupid salesman...

_This better be good...if this is some kind of joke then someone is going to loose a limb... and it better not be some kind of mission from Kakashi-sensei..._

She opened the double locked door to see a young male genin standing there. He couldn't be more than ten years old.

"Yes Sakura asked with a bored voice while rubbing one of her eyes and leaning her tired body against the door. She looked down on the shorter ninja with a tired and slightly irritated look.

"Haruno Sakura?" The boy asked

"Mmm...yes. What is it?"

"I'm sorry for waking you but I have a message for youHe apologized in a polite voice.

"Oh really?" Hearing what the boy wanted, Sakura's voice tone turned more interested. With a raised eye brow in curiosity, she asked "What kind of message?"

"You are to report to Hokage's tower 6 AM." The messenger answered. Sakura frowned in some confusion and surprise. Why should she go to the Hokage's tower that early?

"Why? And who sent you?" Sakura demanded to know. If she had to go to the tower then she wanted to go because of good reasons. However, she did not get much more info from the genin.

"I am not allowed to say any more details but it is important and it is mandatory that your presence is there."

"Oh just great Sakura groaned and slapped her face. That was something she really wished she would not hear. "Is that all?" she asked the boy, still keeping her tired and unfriendly voice.

"Yes. That's all I have to say."

Sakura waited a few seconds and noticed the messenger boy was not going away. Was he waiting for something?

"I thought you were done..." Sakura sharpened her gaze as she could predict what the boy was waiting for.

"Well... aren't you supposed to tip a messenger boy?"He was unsure if he should have asked that question by looking into Sakura's angry face.

First Sakura did not say anything but suddenly her tired eyes changed from looking tired to murderous. This little boy wanted payment for completely ruining her day?? A vein popped out in Sakura's forehead.

"Miss?"The boy hesitated a bit and backed away a step. He really did not like the way Sakura glared at him.

"GET OUT!!"Sakura yelled down to the smaller genin who almost fell backwards from surprise.

"Y-Yes...right away!"

The messenger boy quickly bowed before hurrying away like a scared rabbit. Sakura growled and slammed the door closed. Right now she was pissed off!

_Damn! What a nice start on the day. Why the hell do I have to go the Hokage's building in the morning? I am on vacation for gods' sake._

She and the rest of her friends had been given a two week vacation because their sensei's had felt they need needed a break after working and training extremely hard, and they could need some time for themselves. Although still some people continued to train anyway while others did not and took advantage of what little free time they had been given.

She had made sure to use the time to have fun with her friends and now that she was a few years older she usually stayed up much longer during the nights, which was why she felt so extremely exhausted.

_Couldn't they have told me this earlier instead of just one-hour beforehand? If I knew this I would have not gone to that party or gone to bed so late._

She took a quick look on the watch again. Now it was showing 5:02 AM

_One hour left...better start preparing myself._

Sakura really hated when she did not have time to prepare herself in the morning, for she knew every time she did not have enough time to prepare herself, the rest of the day would go as bad. Of course it also made her very grumpy, which Naruto often had to suffer from by getting beaten up after saying or doing something stupid to her.

After a quick shower, a change of clothes, and a small breakfast consisting of only a toast without anything on it, some dry rice and a glass of water that did nothing to satisfy her hungry stomach, she sighed. Walking to the Hokage's tower would take her about 30 minutes, so she had no time to eat anything else. Everything that was going through her mind was why she was being called to the Hokage's tower, which made her even grumpier and pissed off. Stepping outside the door, Sakura locked it by turning the key twice. Now a half an hour trip was ahead of Sakura, which did not help her mood the slightest. The young girl could not stop yawning and her eyes were so tired that they felt itchy.

It was very early in the morning and because it was autumn, it took a while before the sun even showed up in the morning. The temperature was not very high either, only about ten degrees. Sakura put her arms around her to warm her freezing body. The town was very quiet; there was no one around to break the morning silence. She really hated to walk alone in the village when it was dark and especially when it was very cold. A growling sound was heard coming from her stomach.

_This better be important and go quickly. I am so hungry..._

Frustrated she kicked a loose stone on the ground sending it forward in great speed.

_Damn!_

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Finally, after 25 long and cold minutes of walking and plenty of cursing from Sakura, she finally saw the gates leading to the Hokage's tower. Squinting her eyes, she saw a familiar person standing nearby, the first person she have seen since she left her house. The person was really someone she would not want to meet at a time like this when she felt she just wanted to kill someone randomly. It was a cute looking girl in both Sakura's height and weight with a long blonde ponytail and purple kunoichi(Means female ninja) clothes. There was only one girl in Konoha village that had that description...

_INO-PIG! What is she doing HERE??_

And Ino it was. Sakura's long-life friend and rival at the same time. She walked towards the gate where Ino stood who was leaning against the stone wall. Judging by her face you could see Ino too had not received much sleep last night either. She looked tired and exhausted and had bags under her eyes. Hearing Sakura's foot steps, Ino raised her head and smiled tiredly after seeing saw Sakura walking towards her.

"Oh...Good morning... Sakura-chan." She said to Sakura with a sly look, smirking.

"Good morning to you too... Ino-chan." Sakura replied back with much less friendlier voice. "So what brings you to the Hokages tower this early in the morning?" Sakura asked.

Lifting her head up a bit to show her pride, Ino answered "I have been told by the Ninja council to come here." Ino said arrogantly, grinning. "It must have been really important. They probably felt they wanted to give their best female Chuunin a special secret mission so they asked for me to come here." A vein popped out in Sakura's forehead in anger.

_She has been called here too? Of all the female chuunins they chose her?_

Sakura really wanted to tell Ino that she had been called here to the Hokage too but she refrained.

"Bah! Who would want to hire a filthy pig?" She spat out, calling Ino by her old nickname.

"Oh, do I sense a bit of jealousy in the air, Sakura?" Ino just smirked arrogantly back.

"HAH! You still feel so sure and proud of yourself as usual, don't you Ino!"

"Definitely jealous." Ino said and smirked to show her superiority. Sakura took a breath, hoping to shock Ino with her news.

"Then why don't you ask me what I am doing here in a cold morning like this?"

Once the words had left Sakura's mouth, Ino stopped and stared at her with the same, looking rather confused. She glanced around quickly before asking with a frowning eye. Sakura smirked when she saw that.

"What... are you...doing here?"

_Finally she asks! _Sakura's lips formed the same sly and weak smile Ino had before as she told Ino what she did not know.

"The same reason as you Ino-pig! I have been told to come here for something special as well." Sakura's lips spread wider into a grin when she saw Ino's angry reaction.

"WHAT?" Ino spat out shockingly "Why the hell would they want you??"

"Because one of us actually has a brain! Now there's definitely some jealousy in the air, but it's not from me, Ino!"

"Pfft! You have nothing for me to be jealous about!"

"Then why are you getting so upset all of a sudden?"

"YOU!" Ino took a step forward towards Sakura and pointed at her with a finger manically. "Just looking at you is enough to ruin my mood! You make my eyes bleed!"

"And your presence is enough for me!" Sakura shot back, taking a step forward closer to Ino too "I feel a stinking aura coming from you!"

"Just the fact that you live on the same planet ruins my life!"

"Ohhh you are really asking for it now forehead girl!" Ino's voice grew hostile, and she balled her hands into fists.

"Then come on Ino-Pig. Bring it on!" Sakura got into defensive stats and clenched her fists to prepare herself.

The tension between the two girls increased to the point where they were just about to start fighting, but before a punch could be thrown, the gates clicked and opened suddenly. With heated glares, the two walked into the courtyard.

"If this is a mission, I'll be the one to get it!!" Ino spat out, hitting her chest with her fist. "Not you"

"I won't lose to you, Ino."

"I'm not going to lost to you either, Sakura!"

As they made their way through the long square courtyard, Sakura's gaze was reluctantly drawn to Ino's body and could not help herself from admiring her form while feeling a bit jealous. During the past few years Ino had really grown and matured into a nice looking woman. Although she was only 16, she looked very adult. Many boys (and sometimes even girls) their age often stared at her as she walked down the street. In fact, countless of those boys had tried to ask her out...however few were successful for she always says she's still saving up for Sasuke.

Sakura hated that Ino's body looked so much better than her own. Her breasts were at least two times bigger than her own, and her butt and the rest of her body were perfectly shaped. Although Sakura felt that she looked good herself she always somehow felt uglier when Ino was near. However, Sasuke still didn't look at Ino, regardless of how sexy she'd become. His personality was still the same as always, he thought girls were annoying and only got in his way.

Feeling jealousy begin to consume her, Sakura felt like taking Ino down a peg or two.

"Heh, your face sure looks greasy today. Been up all night or did you get rammed by a bull?" She asked sarcastically, not realizing that she was looking just the same.

"Not greasier than you," Ino replied haughtily before her face turned into a smiled and continued. "I spent a wonderful night with an incredibly gorgeous and charming man I met last night in the village. We talked all night long!" Ino hugged herself with delight and giggled.

"And he told you he will call you next morning?" Sakura said ironically.

"How... how did you...bah! Forget it." Ino grumbled.

Sakura smirked. She knew exactly what to say to piss Ino off.

"So Sasuke is not important anymore to you? He's all mine then?"

Ino thought for a moment, which struck Sakura as odd. Ino usually became very active whenever she heard Sasuke's name, but this time she was quiet. Sakura had no idea what was going on inside Ino's head.

"Sasuke is...well Sasuke is...I am too tired to explain." She shook her head" I will get Sasuke soon but until that I need to 'practice' with other boys."

She easily noticed that something was not right with Ino for she was never ever too tired to talk about Sasuke. Besides she was a terrible liar. After knowing her for many years, Sakura had learned to see when Ino was lying. But if Ino really lied or held back something, what part was true and what part was false? And besides, she said Sasuke and not Sasuke-kun. That was very rare to hear.

Once they had reached the front doors, Ino knocked loudly. The door swung open suddenly, and the two exchanged a glance before walking in. Confused, they stepped carefully inside a dark, which was pitch black, with no one to be seen or heard.

"You sure this is the right place?" Ino asked Sakura as she looked around for a light switch.

"The message said inside the Hokage's house, so here we are."

"Then where the hell is everyone?" Ino complained. "And why is it pitch black in here? I can barely see my own hand."

"Don't ask me, I know as much as you do" Sakura replied.

Ino sighed.

"This is your fault, Sakura! We probably went to the wrong place or got the time wrong."

"Hey don't blame me, Ino-Pig. We got the same message remember?"

Ino did not reply, and instead contented herself with glaring angrily at Sakura who glared back.

"Welcome."

A familiar male voice came from behind and the two kunoichi spun around in shock as the lighs went on. Two male jounin stood in the light, and Sakura and Ino recognized them easily. Kakashi and Asuma.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura frowned.

"Asuma-sensei?" Ino echoed.

"Sorry for bringing you here so early." Kakashi apologised, running a hand across the back of his neck.

"And sorry that you need to come during your vacation but it was important." Asume interjected.

_Important..._ both the girls thought at the same time. It was time to find out why they had been dragged here in the dead of morning.

End of chapter 1

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A/N: Chapter 1 out of 13 done ) For what reason have Ino and Sakura been called to in the middle of the night? That will be explained in chapter 2 to stay sharp. While you wait,

please give me as many reviews as possible. Did you like it? Hate it? Why?

I would to thank my 2 female beta readers Kinumi and Mrs Kakashi. It's thanks to them this story got finished and so good. They are both good writers and I recommend your read their stories.

You want to talk with me about the story personally? Then check my profile and contact me.


	2. You want us to do what?

A/N: I give you the second chapter. This chapter contains mostly conversations only so bear with it.

Replies to reviews

**Refused:** Have you read or watched Naruto? If you have then you should know how, when and why their rivalry started. However, to those that don't know, it will be explained a bit in chapter 4.

_Italic text is when a character is thinking  
_

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**Rivals, Friends, and Lovers**

**Chapter 2: You want us to do what???  
**

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Sakura and Ino have been called in the middle of the night to a meeting with their sensei's Kakashi and Asuma for unknown reasons. The only thing they have found out is that it was about something important. What are the true reasons for them to be lead here? An explanation was greatly needed.

"Important?" Sakura asked and Kakashi responded to her.

"Yes, you might say that," he answered with his usual lazy tone. "Or I should say it is important for two special people"

"Who are you talking about Kakashi-san?" It was Ino's turn to ask, this time it was Asuma's turn to answer.

"You two of course." He said through the cigarette in his mouth.

"Huh?" the girls said at the time, looking a bit confused.

"What has this got to do with us? Why have only me and Ino been summoned here?" Sakura demanded.

"Patience...we will get to that. Just have a seat" Asuma pointed at two free wooden chairs by the table in front of them.

The girls hesitated a bit and looked at each other before sitting down, waiting eagerly for the explanation. They did not have to wait long to hear it.

"Now, I will explain why you girls have been called here," Kakashi said, clearing his throat before beginning.

_About freaking time..._

Was Ino's first thought as she folded her arms impatiently.

"As you both know, a Shinobi must perform dangerous missions sometimes on his or her own, but usually with a three man team. However, the bigger and more dangerous missions can sometimes require two or more teams to work together." Kakashi stopped talking to instead let Asuma take over from where Kakashi stopped.

"Lets say in the future, team seven and team ten are to work with each other to do a class B or A mission. Needless to say, both Kakashi and I know that the mission would surely fail or go utterly wrong"

"WHAT?" Ino immediately protested. "Why do you say that?"

"Because of you two." Kakashi stated calmly.

Now both girls looked a bit pissed off, taking the comment from Kakashi as a personal insult direct towards them. Raising her voice a bit, Ino protested to defend herself.

"What's wrong with us?" She demanded. "Are we too weak or something? We are both qualified chuunins, dammit!"

Those were the same words that Sakura wanted to say as well, but didn't want to speak up to appear rude to her sensei. So instead, it was Ino's morning temperament that was heard. Asuma gestured for Ino to calm down and just listen.

"Two ninja teams need to be able to work and trust each other with their lives as if they are just one team," he continued. "We would never think about pairing our teams because we all know it wont work...you two will see to that."

"But you haven't explained what's wrong with us!" Ino said, her irritation was clearly growing.

"It is a question about cooperation, trusting and friendship. You see, Sasuke and Naruto have no problem working with Chouji and Shikamaru. You two however, can barely go near each other without starting to argue and fight, which could risk both the mission and the lives of your team mates. This is why you two have been gathered here" Asuma stopped talking to take a long drag on his cigarette.

"Are we going to get punished?" Sakura asked hesitantly. Kakashi shook his head, followed by a question from Ino.

"Are our teams going to train more together?"

Kakashi shook his head again as he answered Inos question.

"Then what are we going to do?" Sakura asked, now Asuma took over the explanation again.

"You are going to learn to work together, to trust and be able to cooperate, to remove the rivalry and bickering between you two."

Ino's and Sakura's eyes widened and they looked at each other in silence. For the first time since they got here they really did not know what to say, still Sakura managed to ask a question.

"You mean... just me and Ino are going to train together with you?" she wondered.

"Not exactly," Kakashi spoke up "You two aren't going to be training in fighting, you will be learning to trust each other instead. We are doing this so that one day you two are able to cooperate with out fighting or arguing."

"And we or anyone else will not be with you." Asuma interjected. "You shall do it completely alone, just you two together."

"But when?" Ino cried. "And where are we going to be doing this?"

"Just be patient," Kakashi said lightly, pulling out a large scroll. "Take a look at this."

Kakashi unfolded the scroll it out across the table, revealing a big map of large green forest.

"This is a map of the forest of Life. It lies about 20 miles away east from the Leaf Village. It is there where you are going to work on your friendship and teamwork."

**A/N:** I know that's a silly name for the forest but it was the best I could come up with

Both Sakura and Ino examined the map closely, seeing that it looked to be mostly forestry. To the north of the forest was a fairly large mountain area, a river running to right of it through the forest to a lake in the middle. There were no signs of buildings or any other kinds of civilizations.

"But Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura protested gently. There was one odd thing about the forest. "The forest lies over 20 miles away from the village. You expect us to walk back and forth every day? And why do we have to go to a forest when we can just do this in the village?"

"Ah, you don't have to worry about that," Kakashi answered. He could not help to bring up a weak smile as he continued "You will be staying there."

"WHAT?" Ino cried out in horror. "Stay there? For how long?"

"One week."

"ONE WEEK? "Ino's mouth dropped in shock. "You mean we have to survive in the forest with each other?"

"Ah, just look at it as a camping trip," Asuma interjected, taking another drag from his cigarette

"Are you trying to get us killed?" Ino asked angrily, folding her arms. "I've had enough of forests from our last chuunin exam..."

"Calm down, Ino," Asuma said warningly with a commanding voice. "This forest is different. There are very few predators and dangers, but still you should have quite the challenge...maybe you two will learn something new about yourselves."

Ino and Sakura were speechless again, unable to believe what they had just heard. Spending a week together, alone in a forest!? Sakura have had just about enough.

"I refuse to," she said stubbornly. "There's no way! I am not spending that much time with her, especially in a forest!"

"My words exactly," Ino agreed

"We can't force you to do it...however..." Asuma trailed off, glancing at Kakashi, signalling him to continue.

"If you don't do it..." Kakashi was quick to resume. "Then we will forced to demote you two back to genin level!"

The comment hit Ino and Sakura hard on a critical spot. Throwing herself up from the chair, Sakura stood up, slamming her palms onto the table in frustration.

"You can't do that!" She bellowed, infuriated by the unfairness of it all. "It's not fair!"

"Yes we can," Kakashi answered sharply. "We have already discussed this matter with Godaime, she agreed with everything. Allowing missions involving team 7 and 10 to screw up is not what we want. You two have to cooperate until you have settled things between you."

"Well...we don't have much of a choice do we?" Sakura asked irritably with a deep sigh.

"Yes you do. But you are the ones to make it, not us," Asuma said, flicking his cigarette butt in the ashtray. "If you choose not to do this, you will have to go through a special, extra hard exam to become chuunins again, since you two have already reached chuunin once before, so it will get a lot harder. Think about it."

Sakura took a deep breath to calm herself down a bit as she sat down in the chair again. Both the girls thought heavily about the two options they had to choose from.

_Spend seven days with her? Or become Genin and go through another Chuunin exam that will be harder than the last one? Heck the last time I went through an exam I nearly died! _

Ino thought about it. Memories of her last Chuunin exam came back to her mind. She had nearly been killed by wild animals, fought powerful opponents, getting stung and poisoned by insects but in the end she finally made it through and got promoted to Chuunin. Something she was still very proud about and she never got tired of telling everyone that story. She secretly wished that Sakura would not pass the exam so then Ino would have a great victory over Sakura.

Sakura was thinking the same exact thing.

_I rather starve for 7 days than being with her a single hour in that forest...however I might be able to find out something about her that I can use against her in the future..._

Sakura grinned slyly, turning to face Ino.

"Ino..."

"Sakura..."

And they both nodded.

"We accept it." Sakura's tone sure did not sound happy or positive about it.

"I knew you would." Kakashi could not help but to smile.

"So when are we leaving?" Ino wondered. Asuma rolled up his sleeve to check his watch.

"In exactly...24 hours and 35 minutes," He answered. "That's all the time you should need to prepare your things and say good bye to your friends."

"How typical," Sakura muttered. "They want us to leave while it's dark and cold. They could at least wait until it gets a little brighter and warmer..."

"Now I shall tell you some rules," Kakashi spoke up.

"This just keeps getting better and better," Ino said crossly, leaning against the table to put her head in her hands.

"The first rule is that you must always seek a new place to camp every day for the night," Kakashi continued, ignoring Inos comment. "You may not stay at the same place two nights in a row. There are plenty of places so this should not be a problem."

"The second rule is that you may not go home at any time until you have spent exactly 168 hours in the forest together." Asuma said. "Those are the only 2 rules"

He then took another drag on his cigarette. "If you break any of them you will be punished. There's one more thing...when you get home you must write at least ten pages about what happened in the forest and what you have learned about yourself."

"I guess that's all we have to say, right Asuma?"

"Indeed Kakashi. So, you two may now leave but don't forget to pack your stuff and be here at six in the morning ready to go."

"Ok," they said reluctantly at the same time, nodding in agreement and rose up from their chairs slowly.

"Take care now," Kakashi advised. "Tomorrow it will begin and you may have a tough challenge up ahead of you."

The pair of girls waved good-bye and walked out of the door, closing it behind them. The moment they had left, Asuma turned to Kakashi and smirked.

"Kakashi," he started. "You said that they would be demoted to genins if they would decide to not go to the forest. What was that all about anyway?"

"Heh," Kakashi smirked back from behind his mask. "Do you really think they would accept it if I hadn't told them that?"

"The power of words..."

"Yes, a mighty weapon in the right hands." Asuma and Kakashi chuckled together.

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Outside the closed gates, Ino and Sakura stood there, about to say good-bye to each other, but hesitating since they really didn't know what to say to each other. Their minds were overloaded with all the information they had received today.

"Did all that make any sense to you?" Sakura asked her blonde rival, who simply shook her head.

"No.," She answered. "They expect us to remove our eight year old rivalry in just one week...and in a forest?"

"Seems very suspicious if you ask me." Sakura agreed.

Another short silence took place, seemingly for eternity.

"But we really need to do it," Sakura said, breaking the silence. "I don't want to be demoted to genin again."

"Neither do I!" Ino agreed. "But we already have accepted it so now we have to do it."

"I'd better be off, Ino," Sakura stated. "I'm hungry as hell and we both need to pack our things and prepare ourselves for tomorrow morning."

"Yeah...later then."

Both of them walked away to the gate where they had entered from, splitting up to walk separately to their homes. Ino could not resist but to look at Sakura as the distance between them grew longer and longer.

_Dammit. This is going to become a nightmare for me. I can't let Sakura find out about me_

When Ino looked away, it was Sakura who looked upon the back of her friend and rival, and she too sighed.

_Ino... Ino... Ino... let's hope this little trip will not be troublesome for neither of us as I think it will be.  
_  
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End of chapter 2

A/N: Ino and Sakura, bitter rivals together in a forest for a week? How is that going to work? Keep reading and follow this story and you will find out. And if you intend to keep reading it, then make sure to drop a review along the way too )

You want to talk with me about the story personally? Then check my profile and contact me.


	3. And so it begins

**A/N:** Time for the third chapter already. I need more reviews When you have worked on a fic for nearly a year, you feel very itchy to get as many reviews as possible. Especially when it is your first.

_Italic text is when a character is thinking _

**Replies**** to reviews:**

**Chibified**** kitsunes**: I'm glad you like it. I know the forest of life was a bad name but it was indeed much better than its previous name.

**HikaruOfArrow**: Well thank you for your 2-worded review P I'm glad you liked it.

**refused**: This story has 13 chapters that are all between 2000-3000 words (except for chapter 13) and I don't want to rush the story too quickly. Like you said, I tend to build up the story first instead of just letting them reach the forest immediately.

**Shirou**: Actually it won't be any yuri. It is going to be Shojo-ai which is a milder form of Yuri. Shojo-ai is more romantic and fluffy.

**I Gaara**: The reason they are sent to the forest was clearly explained in chapter 2.

**NoiseTank13**: Thank you for the tip.

**Chikalin**: sigh You could at least say if you either liked or hated it.

**Sesshoumarusluver90, Hokut3n, HazyFaze, JunoHoJai**: I'm glad you all liked it. I hope you will all keep reading and reviewing this story.

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**Rivals, Friends, and Lovers**

**Chapter 3: And so it begins… **

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It was an early morning in the Yamanakas flower shop, also known as Ino's home. The girl in question stood in her room, in front of a big three way mirror. She was the kind of person who always wanted to look perfect andpretty looking in front of everyone. So this mirror suited her needs perfectly.

She wore pants that were black, which fitted snugly against her curves. A thin green summer jacket was worn under a dark grey vest, which had pockets of all shapes and sizes, and on her head she wore a camouflaged cap. Scattered on the bed were several survival items; a black backpack that was full of such things like cooking tools, a compass, a map, even a survival book.

Ino posed and looked at herself in the mirror to make sure she looked good. Everything looked fine to her as usual, except for one thing. That cap was blocking her vision and it hid her beautiful hair. On top of all it was giving her a headache! Irritated, she threw it off and put on a bandana instead.

_Much better…_

She had all her clothes, her backpack, items and equipment. She sure looked technically prepared to survive for a week in a forest…but was she really? Was she mentally ready?

I look like some kind of camping geek tourist. The only way to make me feel better now is if Sakura looks worse than me.

Her mind wandered back to what Kakashi and Asuma-sensei had told them about spending so much time together in the stupid forest. In fact, it had been the only thing she could think about all night. But now it was finally time for her to leave and go meet Sakura and their instructors before going to the forest of reunion. She was about to leave the room, but stopped before she did so.

"Oh… how could I forget?" She said with a weak smile, slapping herself gently on the forehead.

Walking back to her desk, Ino opened a drawer, which was full of books. These were not what she was after however, and she dug around beneath the books to reveal a heart shaped silver medallion, strung on a thin silver chain. She gazed at it before opening it to look inside, then snapping it shut.

"Don't think I am leaving without you."

She smiled as she put it under her shirt to conceal it from view before leaving the room and making her way downstairs to where her mother was waiting for her.

"Alright, I guess I'm ready now." Ino sighed, clearly showing that she was not looking for the upcoming a single bit.

"Do you have everything with you, dear?" Her mother asked concern fully.

"Yes mother," Ino said; her head hanging and her voice a bit distant.

"Ino, what's wrong?" she asked, noticing her daughter did look a bit unhappy.

"I really hate that I need to do this! Not only will I be demoted for not doing this, but Sakura and I are really not the good friends we used to be," Ino explained.

"Well, That's why they are having you do this…it's not like the end of the world, Ino."

"Yeah I know" Ino sighed. "But I wish dad was here…I haven't seen him for a whole month."

Ino's father Inosha had been sent along with Chouji's and Shikamaru's fathers on a far away mission that could take up to several weeks…something that Ino really hated, because she always felt so empty without her father around. He often taught Ino everything she wanted to know and always was around for advice when she needed it. He and the others had been gone now for over 30 days.

"I miss him too," Ino's mother said. "But he will be home next week, the same day when you come home from the forest. Was there something important you wanted to say to him?"

Ino paused at the question mother asked, keeping her gaze down to the floor. For unknown reasons, she found it hard to look in her mother's eyes.

"Well…yes…there is something I need to talk about…but I want you and dad to be together first before I talk about it." Ino's voice noticeably showed mixed signs of nervosa and hesitation, even her heart rhythm increased.

A long silence took place between daughter and mother. Her mother raised her eyebrow and regarded Ino with a curious look before taking a breath to ask a very serious question.

"You aren't pregnant are you Ino?" Her mother paled a bit and expected the worst but Ino just laughed, relieved that that was the only thing she was worried about.

_Although…my problem may have a bit to do with future pregnancy…_

"No mother, it's not that serious but it is really something I think we should talk about…" Ino bit her lip nervously. On the outside she smiled as usual, but inside there was a side of her that was unsure, even scared. Ino was very adept at hiding this side of her well; still it pained her greatly, tearing at her from the inside.

I really want to tell her. Why can't I just tell her and then leave? No… that wouldn't work; she might not let me leave until we talk it through…which I can understand for it is not a small thing to talk about. I will just have to steel myself and live with it for just one more week… I have already dealt with it for about two years so it shouldn't be that bad.

Concerned at her silence and serious look, Ino's mother spoke up, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"You really got me worried Ino…can't you tell me now? Are you really going to let your mother worry about her daughter's problem for a whole week?"

"I am sorry mom but… I still need a little more time to think about it"

Ino said, tapping her fingers nervously. "Don't worry mom, I am not pregnant and I am not taking drugs. As soon as I get home I promise to have a serious talk with you and dad."

"Well…" Her mother shrugged and sighed "if I can't make you change your mind then I won't even try. Besides its time for you to go isn't?" Ino took a quick look on a nearby clock.

"Yes it is! Damn, I'd better hurry or I'm going to be late!"

Ino hugged her mother goodbye quickly yet warmly. This was most likely going to be the last human contact Ino was going to feel for a whole week...other than Sakura of course.

"Be careful, Ino. Please return home safely." Her moth placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"I will, mother," Ino said, walking towards the door and waving goodbye.

As she was walking down the street she touched her stomach, feeling the knot inside. It first appeared two years ago when her problems had started, and since that day she had always felt it inside of her. It was not a knot of cancer or any other disease, but off nervousness and anxiety. Sometimes she barely noticed it, while sometimes it pained her so much…something that was happening to her right now. For two straight years she had felt that knot in her stomach and it had never disappeared. Not a single day had passed without her noticing it.

It was going to be days before she would see her house again, to sleep in a warm bed…and she did not even want to think about that the only person she was going to be around during all this time was Sakura. She didn't feel as if she were going to miss her team mates very much…after all what was there to miss about those two anyway? Shikamaru was pretty much lazy and complaining all the time, while Chouji was always eating everything he could find.

Still…they were good friends and Ino felt satisfied with that friendship. However, it bothered her a bit that she was so selfish as to not say good-bye to Chouji and Shikamaru. She was certain that they had no idea where she was going to be…although she supposed Asuma-sensei would be telling them afterwards.

After fairly short walk, Ino arrived at the eastern exit of the village where she had been instructed to go. Asuma-sensei and Kakashi were already standing there waiting for her; Kakashi was as usual reading his red R-rated book while Asuma stood with his arms crossed, a lit cigarette hanging from his mouth."

"Hello Ino…are you ready?" Asuma greeted her, flicking his cigarette.

"Yes…sensei," Ino said, looking around. She did not see her pink haired friend anywhere in sight.

"Hasn't Sakura showed up yet?" she wondered.

"No" her sensei replied. "Not yet…but I hope she does get here soon." Kakashi still kept his gaze down to his book as if he had not even noticed Ino's arrival.

_Probably late…just as I expected…_

Ino sighed irritably and crossed her arms in impatience. But she did not have to wait long, as a familiar female voice was heard from around the corner.

"I'm here!"

Out from the corner, Sakura walked out, stopping for a moment to rest her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. Her clothing was similar to Ino's, if in a bit of disarray from her running. Ino felt the knot in her stomach tighten a bit as she watched Sakura pant heavily. She looked up, and even through her fatigue, she seemed full of energy and ready to go.

"Hi all," Sakura nodded to everyone, looking fairly positive. Her gaze flickered to Ino, and she let her eyes roam her up and down. Ino bit her lip in annoyance, expecting Sakura to say something that would piss her off.

_If she laughs at my outfit I will beat her up!_

Ino ignored the fact that Sakura was dressed almost like her and tapped her foot irritated. She cast her gaze to the ground to avoid eye contact with her companion.

"Good, both of you are here," Kakashi spoke up, finally putting down the book that he had been engrossed in. "Since you girls are on time none of you have to start earlier."

Hmpf… If I knew that I would have come here earlier. The less time I spend with her the better for both of us

Ino thought.

"So are you two positive that you are ready?" Asuma asked the two kunoichi.

"Hell yes!" Sakura said proudly, pumping a fist up.

"As always," Ino answered with a determined look.

"That's the spirit!" Kakashi said, smiling through the cloth that covered his mouth. "Well… Asuma and I do not have much to say, other than to remind you two of the two rules and to make sure you get started okay."

"We already know them!" Sakura protested. "We must always seek a new place to camp every day."

"And we must spend 168 hours in the forest before leaving," Ino chimed in.

"Excellent," Kakashi said with another smile. "So then this is good bye for now. Just follow this road until you arrive to the edge of the forest; you can't miss it." He motioned towards the gravel road that led out from the eastern gate. The forest could not be seen from here but the girls knew it was out there.

"Then I guess we better start moving. The sooner we get done with this the better," Ino said, shoving her way past Asuma and Kakashi to start heading up the road. Sakura hesitated a few seconds; Ino did not even seem to bother to say good-bye to her sensei.

"Good luck Sakura, both of you will do fine." Her sensei said, patting her on her shoulder. Sakura smiled slightly, and then hurried off with a quicker speed to catch up with Ino.

The two men stood and watched as the two disappeared down the path. A bit concerned, Asuma turned to Kakashi.

"Somehow I just got a bad feeling about this," He said, pulling the cigarette out of his mouth.

"Well," Kakashi answered, his gaze turning serious. "So do I, but you know it needed to be done. If they are ever to cooperate with each other, this is the way."

Asuma nodded, dropping his cigarette to the ground, stamping it out quickly.

"I agree that Ino and Sakura might get rid of their rivalry…but I also have the fear that they might try to hurt each other," he said.

"I think that's a bit far fetched Asuma" Kakashi said, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't think it's as unlikely as you'd think…both of them have a very short temper, and are very capable of losing their tops. On top of it all they are ninjas…and you tell me I shouldn't be worried?"

"You do have a point," Kakashi said with a bit of a worried tone. "But we can't really think like that…although they have a hard time awaiting them in the forest, I feel that they will learn something about each other."

"Hmm…you seem pretty sure of yourself when you say that," Asuma said, raising a confused eyebrow. "Do you know something that I don't, Kakashi? Perhaps a trick up your sleeve?"

"You see Asuma…I follow the weather reports. They have promised us some really nasty weather, rain and heavy winds; the storm will be moving in the next few days." Kakashi grinned slyly, and Asuma opened and closed his mouth.

"Kakashi," he sighed. "I just hope you know what you are doing. I have never liked this idea and I like it even less now…I don't want to have their deaths on my conscious."

"I don't doubt Sakura or Ino's skills," Kakashi reassured him. "After all, they did not get promoted to Chuunins for nothing. Now lets get back, they are on their own now. It's completely up to them now…"

Taking one last look at the two girls disappearing into the distance, Kakashi pulled out his book and began making his way back in the centre of town. Asuma sighed, and pulled out another cigarette, lighting it as he ambled after Kakashi.

End of chapter 3

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**A/N:** What is it that Ino wants to talk about with her parents?

What kind of problem did start for Ino two years ago?

What is so special about the medallion Ino is wearing?

What will happen to Sakura and Ino in the forest? Will they become friends or will it just become worse? A lot of questions have showed up and the only way for you find out about the answers is to continue to read and follow the story.

Reviews are GREATLY appreciated so don't hesitate to submit. I don't care so much about what you write as long as you submit something )

You want to talk with me about the story personally? Then check my profile and contact me.


	4. A good start

**A/N:** Believe it or not but this chapter was the second hardest to write due to that I could not come up with anything good or enough to write. I skipped this chapter to instead work on chapter 5 and up.  
I did not want to write a chapter that was only 1000 words long when the rest of the chapters are all over 2000. However, after a troublesome period of writers block, I finally managed to rewrite the chapter completely and brought it to as it is now ).

_Italic text is when a character is thinking _

Replies to reviews

**LackeyH:** Yes I agree . I really don't like the way I wrote chapter 2. Thank you for the suggestions you gave me on Aim.

**Sesshoumarusluver90:** There is only one way to find out if they will come closer or further away from each other ;).

**HikaruOfArrow:** Thank you for your support and for following this story. You are not saying much but at least you are saying something.

**HazyFaze:** Hehe please do. Try to convince them to leave a review too. Although they are probably too young for that P.

**H0kut3n:** Yepp that is true. Ino is still my nr 1 favourite character in Naruto ).

**EriKKoeKKoek:** Oh you do? Hehe then lets wait and see if you are correct ;)

**Call me Nacho:** So true. Too much yaoi/Shonen-Ai and too little Yuri/Shojo-Ai these days. That was one of the reasons I started writing this fic.

**Takanaki:** Those who I personally tell to read the story must leave a review P simple as that. I know you are a great writer so you really should try writing your own fics.

**nevermore-raven:** Yes that show I like to end the chapter by writing the answers that the readers should think about while they wait for the next chapter.

**Refused:** After you have read this chapter and the next one, you should have enough hints to understand a little about what Inos problems are. Thank you for your comments about the scene between Ino and her mother. It means a lot to me know that the characters are not out-of-character. You will learn more about Inos medallion.

**Chikalin:** Your reviews are too random. Thats the last time I ask you to review my stories.

Enough of AN and replies to reviews. The show must go on.

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**Rivals, Friends, and Lovers**

**Chapter 4: a good start  
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It had finally begun; the journey that was started in order to change their rivalry into friendship. It seemed to be a hard task, if not impossible. Whether they wanted to change or not, they still had to stay in the forest for seven days. This could become to be worst week of their life…

The gravel road Sakura and Ino were walking on looked to go straight on for many kilometres with no turns, hills or slopes, just straight and plain. To the left and right side of the road, several green bushes and trees in all kinds of shapes and sizes stood planted. As usual by this time of the morning, the sky was light blue with only some white clouds soaring among it. The wind that blew past Sakura and Ino was carrying the scent of flowers and grass to their noses.

It was a beautiful day indeed. Yet, none of the girls seemed to enjoy it much as they had not said a single word to each other since they left the Leaf village behind them. The sight of the Village had disappeared from view long ago. Only an hour had passed since that, still they were already longing to return home and just wanted this thing to end as soon as possible.

"Hey, Sakura" Ino finally broke the eerie silence between them. She wanted to talk about something that was mentally bothering her a bit. Maybe talking about it with Sakura would make thing worse between them, yet Ino wanted to give it a try. Besides, this long silence between felt frustrating, even for Sakura.

"Yes? What is it?" Sakura said with a semi-uninterested tone and turned her head around while walking to look at Ino who did the same. Their gazes locked with each other as Ino commenced the conversation.

"You and I, we really fight and argue a lot like our Sensei's says right?"

"Well, yeah" Shrugged Sakura "What about it?"

"But we are not always doing that are we? I mean, sometimes we do have our good moments. Maybe not so often lately but it happens"

What Ino said made Sakura ponder a bit. Ino was right. This last year, Ino and Sakura's rivalry had really become more intensified and more heated, extra hateful. Yet, there were still some rare moments where they laughed, smiled together and talked civilized without showing any signs of hate or disgust.

Again Sakura shrugged and replied

"Yeah…I guess you are right"

Ino liked Sakura's answer but did not like the way she said it with that unsure and uninterested tone. She wanted her to at least show some more enthusiasm and be more positive. Nevertheless, Ino held her irritation back and replied calmly instead of risking starting another pointless fight.

"Hey come on now Sakura, here we are, you and I walking towards a forest that we don't know anything about and where we are suppose to spend seven days alone"

Hearing that, Sakura smirked and smiled weakly "You don't need to tell me what I already know silly"

"Yes but unlike you Sakura I am going to give this a shot but only if you do the same" Inos voice turned more serious, telling that she was indeed serious and not joking or fooling with Sakura.

Sakura did not answer Ino immediately for her pondering had gone down into heavier and deeper thinking. She was thinking of about everything Ino had said the last past minutes. She was right. There were moments were Ino and Sakura were good friends. In fact, those moments were nice to experience. Sakura's memory went further backwards into time to think about how it used to be in the old days when Ino and had taken care of Sakura like a sister. It was Ino who had supported Sakura and helped her to build up a self confidence to make her fit in better into society.

It was even possible, that if it was not for Ino, then maybe Sakura would have not joined the Academy and thus she would have never become a ninja. How would Sakura's life look if she had not met Ino and how would her life be if she never became a ninja of the Leaf? Then Sasuke had showed up that had caused their friendship to turn into bitter rivalry. How much Sakura wanted to have the old days back…

"Hello? Earth to Sakura?"

Sakura's deep pondering got snapped as she noticed Ino waving her hand in front of Sakura's face to get her attention. Smilingly, she turned her head and looked at Ino, simply saying "Yes"

"Yes what?" Ino raised an eye brow in confusion, waiting for a proper explanation which she got immediately.

"To hear all that honesty coming from you Ino makes me believe that you and I can actually change if we try hard enough." Sakura shrugged, still smiling. Hearing those words made Inos face shine up with happiness.

"That's great to hear Sakura! So you mean it? You will…"

"Yes Ino. I guess I will give this an honest try myself. Even if it holds or fails I think it's worth a try"

Inos smile turned wider, filling her with hope about the future. Maybe the wont not be so bad after all…

She smirked quietly. She was beginning to feel better already. Even the nervosa knot in her belly faded away a bit.  
After a couple of more hours of walking and small talk, Ino saw something far away in front of her.

"Hey look!"

She said while pointing her finger out towards the far horizon. Sakura focused her eyes and tried to see what Ino was pointing at. At first she did not understand what this was all about until she saw same thing as Ino. Finally after hours of walking, they now saw their destination, the forest of life.

"Finally…" Ino said quite tiredly and sighed. Neither of them could hold back a weak smile of victory.

It took them an additional hour of walking until they arrived just outside the forest where they stopped for a bit to look at it from a closer view.

The forest it self looked like any other forests they had seen, trees and bushes in different sizes and shapes with many kinds of coloured leaves. Singing forests bird could be heard inside and sometimes small mammals such as squirrels and rabbits were seen but no signs of any predators.

After a minute of stationary observation, the girls resumed walking and entered the forest. Walking there was a bit troublesome due to the terrain but got easier once they had found a steady path to follow. Theirs sense of smelling could clearly feel the different smells from the forest, their ears the constant singing of birds.

The time passed until it became nightfall and the time came to camp. The sun in the sky went down in the horizon, gradually turning the horizon dark orange and red before disappearing down completely. The final light from the sun vanished. The once singing day birds were not heard anymore. Instead Sakura and Ino had to listen to the noises of owls, crickets and other small night creatures that only dared to come out from their nests while it was dark. 

The whole forest was now covered with darkness except for a small spot where a camp fire had been lit.

Sakura and Ino sat on opposite side of the warm and sparkling camp fire that spread a crimson coloured light around in the area where they leaning their tired bodies against two big fallen logs. The light and heat from the fire attracted several flying insects soaring around it.

"Hey, Sakura…" Once again it was Ino who broke the silence to talk with her friend about something else that she had in her mind.

"Hm? What is it?"

"Do you…remember the old times? When you and I could talk about anything?" Ino could not help but to smile a little. Those were good and happy memories.

"I do" Sakura nodded "I thought about it earlier today when we both decided to give this our best" Sakura smiled back.

"It has been a long time since we had a talk like that…" Ino said and Sakura nodded again.

Around Inos neck and below her throat, Sakura saw something metallic reflecting the orange light from the fire. She had never seen it before. The curiosity was too big to let her ignore it.

"Ino, what is it that you have around your neck?"

Looking down to see what Sakura was talking about, Inos eyes saw her heart shaped silver medallion that she had taken from her home before she left. It had somehow jumped out from beneath her green shirt to become clearly visible for any ones eyes. What purpose or meaning it had for Ino was unknown. She cursed herself for not hiding it better.

_Damn it. I should have concealed it better! Now I have to explain to her what it is_

"Oh this?" Swallowing her frustrating and acting normally, Ino pointed at her medallion before grabbing it with her fingers and took it out to let Sakura see it better. "It is a special medallion that was given to me by my grandmother. I have not bothered to wear it so often but I thought I wanted to have something special with me from home" Ino said while looking the medallion in her hand, flipping it and tossing it a bit into the air.

" Special to you? In what way?"

_Of course she had to ask_ Grumbled Ino inside and put up a fake smile. Smirking, she started to explain.

"Heh…this might sound a bit silly but I have been told that if you keep a picture of your true love inside the medallion, they will one day fall in love with you and you will live happily ever after."

"Ohh…so you do keep a picture inside it eh?" Sakura smirked back. She thought the whole idea of the medallion was indeed silly. As if the whole thing was something fancy for young under aged girls being in love.

"Well…yes" Ino suddenly showed small signs of hesitation. Her voice grew a bit quieter while she broke the eye contact with Sakura.

"Its Sasuke-Kun right?" Sakura thought. It would be obvious for someone as Ino to carry around something like that. But she did not confirm Sakura's suspicions.

"I am not saying. It's a secret" Shaking her head, Ino put the medallion back under clothes, feeling the cold metal against her skin.

"Why are you not telling me Ino? If it is not Sasuke-Kun then I am really dying to find out. Is it Shikamaru?" Sakura felt confident that both Shikamaru and Ino had at least some feelings for each other. She had tried before to find out in order to get Sasuke for herself but neither of them had said anything that Sakura could take use of.

"Maybe…" Ino said and shrugged, quietly while looking into the flames of the camp fire.

"If it is neither Sasuke-Kun nor Shikamaru? That does not sound right to me Ino. I think…" Sakura did not finish her sentence as Ino signalled Sakura to be quiet.

"Sakura…I am feeling very tired and don't want to talk about it…" She said with a raised hand to gesture that she wanted it to stop, still looking into the flames. Sakura nodded slowly understandingly but her curiosity had not been satisfied. She would have to try again later.

"Ok…it's just that I thought you wanted to have a special talk like we used to have so many times before"

"I appreciate it Sakura, but we have almost a whole week ahead of us. There will be plenty of time" Ino smiled before stretching her limbs, yawning tiredly. "I think I will go to bed now. That long walk drained most of my energy" She tiredly said.

"Yeah. I will do the same then" Sakura nodded

The first day out of the seven reached its end as the girls as they both put out their sleeping bags and moved themselves into them. The comfyness from the average soft ground and sleepingbags were nothing when compared to their beds back home.  
The last thing Sakura thought about before falling asleep was about who's picture Ino had inside her medallion. Tomorrow they were going to go out and explore the forest. None of them could predict tomorrows horrible events.

End of Chapter 4

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**A/N:** So…once again, what is so special about Ino's medallion? In the next chapter you will see the first out of many cliff hangers ) Do not think that they are going to have an easy time in the forest. 

Please keep follow this story and send in reviews. The next chapter will be up in a week, more or less.

You want to talk with me about the story personally? Then check my profile and contact me.


	5. Unexpected danger

AN: Time for the fifth chapter that also has the first cliff hanger in the end. I wish to thank those who have added me on their favourite author list and authors alert ) It means a lot to me. I would really like to have more reviews :3 Some of you have noticed that I am a real review whore.

Replies to reviews.

**Hokut3n: **Hehe I wish :P

**Sesshoumarusluver90:** Thank you for your comment.

**Red Cell, Ziri Okamiotoko:** Yes you are not alone to have figured out what is going on about Ino and her medallion :) .

**Nevermore-Raven:** Sigh...Raven you should look at yourself and think before flaming me like that. You do not deserve 5 times longer chapters, you deserve just as much as everyone else. I am not rushing things but I am taking my time to build the story up piece by piece.

**HikaruOfArrow:** Who knows...whistles I am not saying anything. But time will tell. You will find out eventually what is inside the medallion.

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**Rivals, Friends, and Lovers**

**Chapter 5: Unexpected danger**

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The morning sun rose up in the horizon, turning the sky orange. As time passed, the Forest of Life got entirely covered in its shining bright light, which drove the darkness away, finally coming to rest on the sleeping eyelids of Sakura. She awoke from her deep slumber, yawning but still feeling well rested.

Sakura had slept quite well during the night. Although it had been a bit windy and chilly at times, it was otherwise no problem sleeping pretty comfortably throughout the night. After all, sleeping in a forest was nothing new to her, since she had plenty of experience after going through three chuunin exams in the past.

The girl turned her body to the right, seeing Ino still sleeping in her sleeping bag. She briefly considered whether she should wake her up or not.

_Nah...Ino's morning temperament is not fun to deal with._

Ino was pretty picky with how long she slept during the nights. She didn't want to get too much sleep or too little, just to avoid wrinkles or making her precious skin get sloppy. It seemed that it would be the best to let Ino handle that herself ...Sakura let her continue sleeping.

Only 20 minutes passed before Ino woke up too. After an additional 20 minutes, the girls ate breakfast, temporarily stilling their hunger. A lot of time remained for the day. What should they do with it?

"So then," Sakura said. "The day has just begun...what do you think we should begin with?" She hoped Ino would have a good suggestion, since she couldn't even come up with any ideas at the moment.

"Well... the reason we are here is to work on our friendship," Ino answered matter-of-factly.

"Yeah... but how exactly are we suppose to do that?" Sakura wondered. Ino thought heavily for a moment, her fingers on her chin as she considered Sakura's question.

"I think we should first start with trying to not fight or argue with each other pointlessly," she said finally.

"Agreed, we should also try to not talk about sensitive stuff" Sakura said in agreement. Many times before, Ino and Sakura had often started talking about topics that were touchy to the both of them, which always caused arguments. Now that they were here, and had to get along, she thought that they should at least avoid that as much as possible.

"Sensitive stuff like what, Sakura?" Ino frowned curiously, wondering what Sakura meant exactly by saying that.

"You know, about Sasuke-kun...and...love." Sakura explained. Ino smirked a little as it reminded her about last night and she didn't reply for a moment, instead looking at the ground.

"Love..."Ino said silently. She closed her mouth and remained silent after saying that single word sentence. After about ten seconds of silence from Ino, Sakura just had to ask.

"What?"

Ino snapped out of her reverie. Putting on a fake smile, she quickly answered to avoid having to explain further.

"Oh nothing!" She protested gently. "I guess you are right about the sensitive topics...let's try to not talk about Sasuke."

Again Sakura noticed Ino's strange behaviour and saw through Ino's fake smile.

Why does Ino keep saying Sasuke and not Sasuke-kun? I have known her since I was eight and I have never heard her say his name like that before

"Hey, you know what Sakura?" Ino said with a broad smile. "It feels pretty good that we've actually managed to agree on something."

"Yeah," Sakura decided with a smile. So what do we do next?" she asked.

"I'm not sure," Ino shrugged. "Let me take a look at the map."

Digging through her backpack, Ino pulled out a map of the forest and rolled it out while Sakura inched herself closer to her friend to see the map more clearly, their bodies almost made physical contact with each other. Noticing this, Ino discretely moved herself a few inches away from Sakura as if she was avoiding her. Sakura frowned a bit at this, thinking for a moment that she smelled but thankfully to her relief that was wrong.

Ino has been acting weird ever since we met each other outside the Hokage's building two days ago. Could it just be my imagination?

"Here," Ino said, breaking Sakura out of her thoughts as the blonde pointed at the mountain area on the map with her finger.

"We are not too far from the mountain," she said, tracing her finger along the map" It's not exactly a mountain but more of a very large rocky hill. I bet we could see the waterfall and the river from there, how does that sound to you, Sakura?

"That sounds good to me," Sakura said. "Whatever can keep us occupied is good."

"Perfect. Then it's settled," Ino decided. The two girls packed their things and prepared themselves to move on deeper into the forest. Ino took the lead again with Sakura following her close behind. Ino kept the map in her hands to check every now and then, just to make sure they were heading in the right direction.

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After about an hour of walking, they arrived to an opening in the forest, standing just at the foot of the mountain, or rather large hill as Ino had had said. The sound of a big nearby waterfall echoed nearby. To the right, a sapphire blue shining river was seen.

"I can hear the waterfall," Ino said excitedly. "This is going to be so great...I have never been at a waterfall before. Can't believe I haven't gone here earlier!" Ino grinned happily.

"It looks like there is only on way up." Sakura pointed towards a path leading up the hill.

"Then let's hurry!" Ino said, hardly able to contain her excitement as she rushed up the path. Sakura could do nothing more than to follow her eager friend. The more they moved upwards the hill, the louder the sounds from waterfall became.

The path led them up to a flat terrain area full of rocks in all shapes and sizes. From here there was another path leading upwards to a much higher place of the hill. The two girls walked up to the very edge of the first area they had arrived to. None of them spoke, for what the sight in front of them was truly beautiful and amazing, taking their breath away. Almost the entire forest was spread out beneath them in a sea of green, the long river running through the middle of it.

"Wow...what an incredible beautiful view." Ino said. Turning their heads to the right and the left, they both looked at the beautiful horizon.

"Yeah you can see so far away from here...this must be the highest point in the forest," Sakura said, impressed. She looked over at Ino, surprised to see a nasty smile spreading across Ino's face.

Oh no. I hate when Ino smiles like that. It always means she is up to something bad... 

Without any warning, Ino rushed up to the other path that lead up higher, while Sakura followed behind with a sigh and slower pace. As they climbed higher up the hill, Sakura discovered that it was a lot windier here. The wind blew harshly against their skin, making their hair blow violently around. Sakura saw Ino running to the edge like a silly young child who did not know or care about the danger, and she gasped.

"Yeah! I am Yamanaka Ino! KING OF THE HILL!" She shouted out into the open landscape, jumping up in the air waving her arms. The echo of her voice was heard all over the forest, causing a nearby flock of birds to fly away in fright.

Sakura then also came up a couple of safe steps behind Ino, she was smiling but she was not as cheerful as Ino was.

"You should be more careful Ino!" Sakura warned, getting worried. "The wind is strong here, and you can get blown off the edge." She was careful to not go too close to the edge but her warnings were futile for Ino did not bother to listen.

"Bah! Sakura, you sound like my mother. Relax...I can take care of myself."

"Just warning you that's all." Sakura said, folding her arms. Ino shrugged and leaned herself out a bit, looking at something below the cliff.

"Hey, take a look at this," Ino called, gesturing with her hand to signal Sakura to move closer to the edge. Sakura refused to.

"Nah I think I pass," she said, shaking her head. She found no reason for her to get closer.

"What? Why not...are you afraid of heights?" Ino smirked at the taunt.

That taunt had the desired effect on Sakura. A vein popped out in her forehead in anger, although she was able to calm herself down in an instant. She hesitated a bit before slowly walking to the edge where Ino stood.

Leaning herself forward to look down at the waterfall, the two girls stared at the endless flow of water that flowed out from a large opening in the mountain. At the bottom of the waterfall, many large and sharp rocks stood up like spikes. The sight sent chills down Sakura's spine, but Ino just grinned.

"If you fall from here you will have no chance of surviving... you will either drown in the river or get crushed or even impaled on those rocks if you are unlucky."

Ino's voice sounded a bit shaky when she said that, still she smiled. Standing there was giving her a small adrenaline kick, but Sakura stepped backwards a bit; she had seen enough.

"I'm not afraid of heights but I am not going to be reckless. Its one thing to stand on a high tree but this is on top of a very high mountain. The winds are too treacherous here," Sakura explained warningly.

"Hah!" Ino retorted. "You coward! Check this out!" Again Sakura's common sense did not work on Ino.

Rejecting Sakura's warning, Ino threw her back pack down on the ground. In front of Sakura's nervous eyes, Ino performed a few daring acrobatic moves dangerously near the edge as if she was dancing on a line.

"Ino stop it, it's not funny!"

Sakura yelled before suddenly what she had feared most happened in an instant.

Without any warning, the ground beneath Ino's feet lost its hold and crumbled, making Ino loose her balance. Gravity became her enemy as she felt herself sliding off the cliff, unable to find any grip on the ground with her feet and hands.

"SAKURA!!!"

Ino screamed panicked for her friend to aid her as she fell off the edge. Everything happened in a fraction of an instant, but Sakura was fast enough to react and lunged herself forward, landing on her belly, grabbing Ino's flailing arm by the elbow before it just went out of reach. She looked down to see Ino dangling helplessly with her limbs to try to reach a foothold that was too far away.

"Don't let me fall!" Ino pleaded, her eyes filled with terror.

Sakura's grip around Ino's lower elbow weakened a bit, causing Ino to slide down a few inches. Holding onto her wrist now instead, Sakura had a much better grip but she wasn't sure how long she would be able to hold her up like this.

"Don't let me die...Sakura..." Ino said with a trembling voice. She wished she hadn't been so stupid as to show off to Sakura and just heeded her words.

Both of them knew if Ino would fall she would have no chance to survive. Like Ino said before, she would either drown in the wild river or get crushed by the rocks. The situation really did not look good...

Sakura gathered as much strength as she could in her arm, trying to pull Ino up but she lacked the arm muscles to do so. Ino was just too heavy for her.

"Ino... I can't pull you up...grab my hand with your other arm."

Ino attempted to grab Sakura's hand but missed it.

"I...can't!"

"Yes you can, do it!" Sakura commanded Ino to try again. Ino swiped for Sakura's outstretched hand again, brushing the fingertips this time but unable to grasp it securely.

"I...can't!"

The seconds went on without anything happening. She grunted and tried pulling Ino up again, to no avail. The grip Sakura held around Ino's hand slowly got weaker and weaker. Time was running out. She needed to get Ino out of danger now or it would be too late!

The two girls looked deeply into each others eyes; in a way they had never looked before. Ino looked like as if life itself had been drained away from her face. Her face was as white as a sheet, and she was sweating like crazy. Her blue eyes held an unimaginable terror as they gazed up at the pink haired girl helplessly.

Sakura closed her eyes for a few seconds and imagined Ino's bloody body lying lifelessly on top of the rocks at the bottom of the waterfall, her blood turning the sapphire water into ruby colour. The vision chilled Sakura to the bone, and she looked down at Ino's terrified face.

"Ino... I don't know what to do..." She said weakly. The air fell silent, seeing like an eternity before Ino spoke up again.

"So...I am...going...to..." Ino now knew what was going to happen to her.

"No...don't say it!" Sakura shouted. She refused to even think about it anymore, and she mentally shoved aside the thoughts of Ino's body being impaled on those rocks.

"I can't die yet!"

_I must tell her before its too late!_ Ino thought.

"Sakura... there's something I have wanted to tell you and my parents for many months..." Ino started her confession, however Sakura cut her off.

"Stop talking as if this is the end," she said crossly.

"It is Sakura...it's the end for me," Ino said, her voice wavering. "I should've listened to you."

"Then be quiet and listen to me now." Sakura raised her voice a bit, struggling to pull Ino up yet again.

"No! Sakura before I die I want you to know..." She was sure that she was going to die, so she wanted to say the words she had wanted to say for a long time. Again Sakura stopped her.

"SHUT UP DAMMIT!!" Sakura snapped and caught Ino by surprise, silencing her. "Even though we are rivals Ino, I will _never_ let you die. I promise you that."

Sakura closed her eyes and began to concentrate, thinking hard about the situation and possible solutions. Multiple sweat drops rolled out her face.

Her life is in my hands...if Ino falls she will die and I will never see her again or forgive myself. She is my rival...but...Ino is also my friend and a good one too...the truth is that she is more of a friend to me than a rival

"Ino..."

I shall save her even if I have to kill myself! I need to concentrate my chakra to my arm...through the muscles...the sinews...the arteries...

Ino looked up and saw the veins and muscles on Sakura's arm and hand grew and got slightly more muscular. Then with a yell, Sakura grunted and threw Ino up with ease from the cliff ten meters up in the air. Ino shouted in surprise as she tried to land on her legs but failed. Instead she landed flat on the ground with a loud crack behind, her stomach down, silencing her. Sakura was so excited to see Ino on firm ground again she didn't even hear the sound of multiple bones breaking behind her as Ino hit the ground hard behind her.

A strong aching pain soared through Sakura's arm as it began to recover itself from that chakra muscle boost.

_Damn it hurts. Still, what I just did was pretty impressive, I should try to train that some more._ Sakura quickly stopped admiring herself for what she had done.

"Hey Ino, how does it feel to be back on firm ground again?" Sakura said with a relieved smile. She got no response.

"Ino? Are you alright?" She turned around and saw her friend lying several meters away, her body twisted in a strange angle.

She was not moving...

End of chapter 5

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AN; Quite a "cliff hanger" eh? :P What was Ino trying to confess to Sakura? How badly hurt is she? Another hint has been given about Ino's problem. Some of you might be able to tell now what it is.

I need more reviews please. If you read this then please submit a short review.

You want to talk with me about the story personally? Then check my profile and contact me.


	6. Forgive me

**AN:** I apologize if you think this chapter is a little stiff and boring but I guarantee you that the next one will be very interesting. I feel slightly disappointed for receiving so few chapters for chapter 5 when I even had that cliff hanger in the end :/

_Italic text is when a character is thinking._

Replies to reviews.

**Nevermore-raven:** Hehe its ok raven. Next time don't use caps for caps means that you are screaming. Its cool that you really like my story though.

**LackeyH:** Yes. That is where I got the idea from.

**Ziri Okamiotoko:** I am no doctor so I don't know the human body in detail.

**Refused:** We have already talked about it on msn but I will tell everyone what I told you. Sakura and Ino's hands were busy so they could not perform any hand seals and Ino could not reach the cliff wall with her feet. I needed Ino to get hurt as it will be a big part of the story.

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**Rivals, Friends, and Lovers**

**Chapter 6: Forgive me**

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On the hill above the waterfall, Sakura stood by the edge, looking at the lifeless body of her friend Ino. She saw no movements or heard no sounds from Ino that could tell if she was alive.

"INO!!"

Seeing Ino sprawled on the ground and not moving, Sakura ignored the pain in her aching arm and rushed to her fallen friend. Kneeling down, she shook Ino's body with her healthy arm, yelling her name hysterically without getting any response back.

_Is she dead? Did...did I kill her?_

Sakura's heart was pounding so hard and fast inside her chest that it felt like it was going to burst through her ribs. Gulping, she carefully flipped Ino over onto her back to examine her body better for any wounds. Scanning Ino's body, she gasped as she saw a medium sized wound on Ino's forehead oozing out blood in a slow steady pace. From the looks of it, Ino's head had hit a rock badly when she had landed. A rock near her head was stained with drops of blood on it. Fortunately, Ino's skull still looked to be intact so there didn't seem to be any physical damages to her brain.

Nervously, Sakura put a shaking finger on Ino's throat and waited a few seconds until she felt what was she was praying for, a pulse telling her that Ino was still alive. Sakura let out a huge sigh of relief, but now worried about how badly wounded Ino actually was.

She lifted Ino's limp upper body up carefully, just in case she did have internal damage, and held her in her arms. It was an odd feeling for Sakura, for she had never held Ino before like this, and especially not in her current state of unconsciousness.

"Ino can you hear meshe asked worriedly, breathing nervously. There was nothing but silence coming from the still form of Ino.

"Come on, you need to wake up!"Sakura insisted, gently shaking Ino. Still no response in return.

"Ino please!" her voice growing a bit hysterical. Finally, Ino's eyes fluttered before they opened up slowly.

"Sakura... where..." Ino whispered. Her voice sounded very tired and exhausted as if she was half sleeping. Sakura felt hope flood inside her friend awakened.

"We're still on top of the waterfall, you knocked yourself out cold." Sakura said. Her head pounding painfully, Ino put her hand on her aching head, feeling something wet.

"My...my head hurts..." Ino said weakly, looking at her fingers and seeing they were covered in blood.

"Try not to talk too much Ino," Sakura warned. "Does it hurt anywhere else?"

"My entire... body ache...my knee...and its hurts...when I inhale"

Sakura looked at Ino's right knee. The cloth was ripped open and stained with fresh red blood. Inspecting it, it did not look to be broken although it could be fractured.

"Your knee seems to be ok to me. Do you feel anything is broken, like can you move your arms and legs? Sakura asked. Ino moved all her limbs a bit to try them out.

"I can...still move" Still feeling weak, Ino's eyes widened a bit when she realized something.

_Am I...resting in Sakura's arms?_

"Sakura, please...help me sit up." Ino asked, pushing the thought out of her head. Sakura tried to lift Ino's upper body up to a sitting position instead but as soon as she tried, Ino yelled and writhed in pain, her hand shooting to her chest. If she had more energy she would've been screaming it out. Sakura jumped a little from the chock and guilt, her heartbeat speeding up again.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry!" Sakura apologized, holding Ino in place to prevent her from moving. "Where does it hurt?"

"My...left...ribcage..." Ino grimaced and grunted in pain.

Sakura wanted to pinpoint the area of Ino's pain so that she could figure out better what to do. Carefully she pressed her finger gently against Ino's lower left ribcage.

"Here?" Sakura asked, watching Ino carefully. Ino didn't answer, so she slid her fingers upwards to the middle of the ribcage, this time she got results. Ino winced, moaning softly from the pain.

Sakura really felt bad for what she was causing Ino but she had no choice.

_This is not good at all. Many of her ribs are broken and she said it hurts when she inhales. Is it possible that her lung have been pierced? If that's true and if she has internal bleeding in her chest, Ino can drown in her own blood..._

With that horrifying thought, Sakura paled, almost starting to panic inside but she did not show it and quickly calmed herself down.

She thought for a moment about trying to go for help, but ditched the idea quickly. It would take hours to get back, and Ino would be left by herself defenceless, and she had no way of knowing if Ino could survive alone in her condition.

"Ino...how is your breathing?" Sakura kept asking Ino questions to get as much information as possible so she could figure out something to do.

"Good...I guess...hurts when breathing," Ino said softly.

"So you don't feel as if you have something liquid in your throat?" Sakura asked hopefully.

"No...don't think so...why?" Ino asked, raising an eyebrow. She was not as educated in the human body as Sakura so she was not aware of the risks Sakura knew. Sakura choose not to tell Ino yet for there was no need to make her worry.

"I'm just glad to hear that. How is your sight?" Sakura said, relaxing visibly.

"Very blurry and dark...I can barely see you."

_Blurry and dark... is it possible that her eyes are damaged too? The wound on her head might have damaged an eye nerve._

The guilt and remorse only became worse for Sakura as she considered the extent of Ino's possible injuries.

"Alright... Ino you have broken at least three ribs and you have had a serious concussion...but it's nothing life threatening if you just rest and take it easy for a while."

"Cant you heal me?" Ino asked, hoping for to get relieved of her pain quickly. Sadly, Sakura shook her head.

"I am sorry. I just started to train on the healing hands technique just a few days before we left. I can barely cure anything with the skills I have now"

Sakura was fortunate though to have gone through the basics of the arts of healing techniques by learning it from Godaime Hokage and Shizune. Despite Sakura's nearly perfect chakra control, healing was a very hard technique to master. Her low chakra capacity did not make things any better.

"Heh...that's just my luck" Ino said, smiling a bit despite her condition. She sighed, feeling very stupid, ashamed even for not listening to Sakura's warning earlier, and acting stupid. "You could...have thrown me a little gentler..." she said, rubbing her aching chest.

"I'm sorry," Sakura apologized, her eyes falling. "I have never tried to feed chakra directly into my muscles like that...and anyways you should be glad that I got you got up instead of letting you fall down."

"Yeah...you saved my life...guess I owe you one." Ino said semi-gratefully.

"Hey I only did what I had to do. You would do the same for me right? Eh Ino?"

"Perhaps" Despite feeling weak, Ino managed a smirk. "If it was I who had to throw you up...your big forehead would have taken the blow... thus saving you" She joked.

"Don't make me regret what I did and throw you back down there!" Sakura said indignantly.

_Looks like she did not lose her sense of humour...I guess that's a good sign,_ Sakura thought, seeing how the blood coming out from the gash was rolling down on Ino's face.

"I need to take care of that wound on your head...I have some bandages in my backpack that will hold."

Opening her backpack, Sakura took out some white bandages. Unravelling them, she began to apply the gauze around Ino's bleeding forehead. The bandages began to turn red from absorbing the blood on her forehead; Sakura had to add another layer for the bleeding to stop.

"There. It should be enough for some time." Sakura said "Ino, I'm sorry to say this...but we need to get you out of here. The wind is picking up and it's not safe to stay here for the night. We need to move out of here to a safer area".

"Ok...I understand" There was nothing else for Ino to do but nod. She wished she could remain there longer to rest for a bit, but this wasn't the situation to argue about that. But she really didn't relish the thought of having to move.

"Now this is going to hurt, try to help me if you can." Sakura instructed Ino as she prepared to lift her up. This really needed to be done as quickly as possible for Ino's sake.

"Ok let's... do it," Ino said, steeling herself to prepare for the inevitable pain.

Sakura put her hands on Ino's shoulders, softly urging her up, as Ino did her best to do so. Immediately the pain stung Ino heavily as she shifted upwards, grunting loudly with pain. Grimacing, Ino placed her hand on her chest, right above her broken ribs. Sakura helped her up a bit more, the pain lessoning enough for Ino to stand it better.

"Damn...it hurts so much!" Ino said, panting from the effort and pain she was feeling.

"You need to hold on a bit more. You think you can walk?" Sakura asked, concerned.

"I don't...have much of...choice do I?" Ino breathed in answer, clutching her side desperately for support. "We...are already standing anyway"

"Yeah, that's true," Sakura said with a heavy sigh. "Let's take it slowly, I'll help support you, let me know if something hurts or is wrong at once, okay Ino?"

Ino nodded. Sakura put her hand around Ino's waist and held her by the belt while Ino reluctantly put her own arm around Sakura's shoulder.

_God, I hate this!_ Ino thought angrily to herself.

A bit unsteadily, the two kunoichi began their journey downwards of the hill. The pair moved slowly, for Ino's wounded knee was giving her quite the limp. Her eyes were half closed as she leaned her head against Sakura's shoulder as if she was sleeping.

Every few moments they had to stop for Ino to catch her breath. At times, Ino noticed her vision getting worse and it got harder to breath, but it seemed to be only temporary and passed after a few moments. She also felt a stinging headache slowly spreading inside in her head. However she did not let Sakura on to know any of this, worrying her right now would be pointless, and they had to concentrate on getting down the hill to a safe place.

While Ino suffered from the pain, Sakura was suffering from guilt. She glanced at Ino with sympathy in her eyes, how she was limping, how she was panting silently in pain, the blood on her head and knee.

_It's my entire fault. I am supposed to be one of the best chuunins when it comes to controlling chakra...and yet I hurt her so badly. If Ino gets permanent damage because of this then I will never forgive myself..._

"Ino...I forgot to say...I am so sorry for what I did to you." Sakura said in an apologetic tone, her eyes cast downwards to avoid meeting Ino's gaze.

"It's ok...it wasn't your fault. Don't blame... yourself." Ino replied, reassuring Sakura with a weak smile.

But Ino's words did not make Sakura feel any better at all. They continued on down the hill for what seemed like an hour, excluding a lot of time for Ino to rest. Sakura found a good place to camp for the night; it was in the middle of the forest but it had a tiny flat opening with soft soil. There were many thick trees around it that could provide a good protection against the increasingly cold wind.

This spot should be good... 

Sakura took a look up in the sky, noticing that dusk was approaching quickly. A cold breeze blew past her, leaving her shivering. She took a look at Ino, clearly seeing how she was completely exhausted after the long walk. Ino seemed to be a bit pale in the face, whether from the chill or her wounds Sakura didn't know.

Ino seems to be getting worse...or maybe I am just being paranoid. 

"Sakura...please...put...me down...I'm...feeling...so...tired" Ino whispered, almost unable to make out the words. Her head was hanging down and her knees were shaking as they could barely keep her up any longer. Sakura could tell that her energy was completely drained for now.

"Alright I understand." Sakura said softly. "We'll be staying here for the night." Her heart got heavy again with guilt.

Very carefully, Sakura helped Ino lie down with the least amount of pain as possible for her, and then began to prepare for encampment.

She gathered enough wooden sticks, dry grass nearby and put them around a small stone circle to prevent any fire from escaping. Lighting a match she then started the much-needed campfire. Immediately she began to feel safer, comfortable in the warmth, making her relax.

"Finally...I can rest." Sakura said to herself, sighing with relief.

Now that the camp was up and Ino was safe resting it was time for Sakura to satisfy her growling stomach. She ate a small meal quickly, consisting of water from her water bottle, some dried meat that roasted above the campfire, and some tasteless rice. (which tasted much better after adding some BBQ spice) She now did not feel as hungry anymore but her stomach would probably start again in a few hours.

While Sakura was leaning back she glanced at Ino, still feeling very worried about Ino's injuries. She still did not know how bad they were; Ino could have internal bleedings inside her head and chest. What pained Sakura the most was that there were so little she could do for her friend, all she could do was to take care of her and let her rest, but she could not give her the proper medical treatment that she needed.

Sakura's eyelids were starting to feel heavier and she tried to blink it away her sleepiness, which only served to cause her to feel more tired; most likely from the warmth of the fire that caused it. However she refused to go to sleep until she had checked upon Ino one last time. Ino was still looking pale in the face and her breathing was so quiet that made it hard to tell if she was alive.

After putting some more dry wood on the fire, Sakura got into her warm sleeping bag next to Ino and close to the fire.

"Good night Ino...Sleep well...and please get better," She said while she gently stroked Ino's cold cheek with her hand.

Darkness enveloped Sakura as she fell into sleep, nervously praying that her friend would survive through the night...

End of chapter 6

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AN: Again apologize if you think this chapter was a little boring but I guarantee you that the next one will be very interesting.

The second day is over for the girls and so is chapter 6.

You want to talk with me about the story personally? Then check my profile and contact me.


	7. The Storm

A/N: Here is chapter 7. It is the second longest chapter of them all.We are about half way though the story now )

_Italic text is when a character is thinking _

Replies to reviews.

**Refused:** Its cool. That review from your was enough "analysis" for me. Thanks a lot for all the reviews you have sent me.

**Ashko** Thank you for telling me that the characters are IC. I think that's important for a good story. Some of the things might have been predictable yes but not everything. Lets see if the end of this chapter was predicted P

**Animecutie101:** Awesome that you liked it. I hope you will follow the story and send in more reviews.

**HazyFaze** It should be fairly obvious to understand what Ino was trying to say. But don't worry; you will learn everything about her problem and confession in time.

**Nevermore-raven:** Please keep reading the story and submit reviews for me )

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**Rivals, Friends, and Lovers**

**Chapter 7: The Storm**

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The third day for Sakura and Ino began early in the morning, the sunlight again waking Sakura earlier than she would've liked. She shivered as she felt the coldness hit her; this had been the coldest night so far since they got here. And from the way her hair and the treetops were blowing, the wind was definitely picking up.

Sakura had not slept well that night. Not only because of the weather but also from guilt...she was so worried that Ino was going to be permanently damaged from her injuries. Ino could have a permanent limp in the future from her damaged knee or she could possibly end up blind from what Ino had told yesterday, that she could barely see anything. If any of these things would happen, Ino would have to quit her life as a ninja… thus ending the Yamanaka family ninja tradition for Ino was the only child for the Yamanaka family.

Her mind always went back to that moment….she could not stop thinking about what had happened yesterday. How Ino had dangled helplessly begging Sakura to not let her fall to her death. How Sakura had managed to save Ino from death and instead wounded her. The guilt…it tore at her from the inside. Her sleeping bag was partially soaked in her sweat. Even if the night had been cold, it had not prevented Sakura from sweating out her guilt.

Slowly she got up, worried for her friend's sake. Even though she was tired, she crawled out from her sleeping bag over to Ino, placing two fingers on her pale unconscious friend's neck. Some seconds passed and again she felt what she had felt many times before, Ino's body pulse. Ino looked to have regained some skin colour during the night and her breathing was now more stable.

_A sleeping beauty…that's what Ino is…_Sakura thought, strangely feeling that it warmed her heart thinking like that while stroking Ino's chin. Her touch caused Ino's eyes to flutter open, a good sign of Ino recovering.

_"_Sakura_…"_ Ino whispered and opened up her eyes completely.

"Good morning Ino…" That seemed to be such a stupid thing to say…but it was the only thing Sakura could come up with. Better to say something instead of nothing. "Feeling any better?" She then asked. Ino took a few seconds before answering.

"My entire body still aches… especially my head and chest." Ino complained while she put a hand on her forehead, feeling the moist bloody bandages.

"I'm sorry to hear that Ino. I really mean it." Her head drooped, and she stared at the ground, ashamed "How is your breathing? Does it still hurt when you inhale?"

Ino inhaled fairly deeply, wincing as she did so, giving Sakura a weak nod. It felt like she had kunai buried in her chest.

"Yes although my sight is better now."Ino said. At least some of her injuries had recovered a little.

"Don't worry Ino you just need to remain still and rest and you will be fine." Hope surged through Sakura. If Ino really did have internal bleedings and a pierced lung she would have noticed it by now. Seeing that she was alive and feeling a bit better told her that she did not have to worry about that. Still, she had to be careful or it could get worse.

"Bummer…"Ino said with a disappointed tone and semi-angry face.

"Excuse me?"Sakura asked with a frown.

"It's just…I was really looking forward to do all this for what we are here to do…and now look at me, crippled and sick._" _Ino explained and gestured with her hand to her wounded areas.

"Hey come on Ino… we can still work on it."Sakura tried her best to cheer her friend up.

"Come on…Sakura. I can barely move on my own"

"Relax Ino. I will take care of you. Remember that we only need to change camping place every night? I will help you walk and I will make sure that we do not have to walk so far."

"Hmm…guess you are right_" _Ino sighed and then a growling sound from her stomach reminded her of something"Have you made any breakfast?"

"No not yet. I just woke up as well." Sakura said, shaking her head.

"I feel so damn hungry. I can't even remember the last time I ate something."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it," Sakura assured Ino, feeling just as hungry as Ino did.

Sakura went inside her backpack and started taking out some items and food and started to prepare breakfast for both of them. After a couple of moments the smell of cooked meat and rice with plenty of spices reached Ino's nostrils. Her mouth watered and her stomach growled hungrily. She could not wait anymore and tried to move out from her sleeping bag, however something very effectively stopped her.

While Sakura was about to serve the breakfast she heard a female yelling in pain from behind. Quickly she turned around and sighed deeply. Ino had tried to get out of her sleeping bag. She held both her hands on top of her broken ribs while groaning heavily in pain

"Son of a bitch it hurts!" Ino spat out angrily frustrated.

"What the hell did you expect? Your wounds won't heal that quickly over one night silly."Sakura sighed again. She expected Ino to be a little smarter than that.

Ino closed her mouth and didn't say anything, grunting in pain instead before going back to her sleeping bag. Sakura collected some food and put it on a plate, moving over to sit besides Ino who did not like what was going on.

"What are you doing_?" _Ino raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"It's too painful for you to sit up and eat by yourself,_" _Sakura explained. Ino's face snapped and now understood what Sakura wanted to do.

"There is no way I will let you feed me!"She spat out.

"Fair enough. Then I will let you rest and watch as I eat then," Sakura said with a small smile.

Ino hesitated for a couple of seconds. Her gaze went everywhere as she struggled with what to do. A small sudden wave of pain in the ribs and another growling sound in her stomach finally made her decide.

"Fine!_"_Ino growled silently with evil looking eyes.

Sakura's smile widened and she pulled out a pair of chopsticks. She then grabbed a piece of the meat, holding it out for Ino to eat.

"And if you ever do… UGH!"Ino pointed with her finger threateningly before she shuddered as a stronger wave of pain soared through her body.

"Damn…this…pain. Remind me to always carry pain killers next time I go out like this!"

"At least you will live. Now come on and eat before it gets cold."Sakura offered Ino the meat again with a smile."Open wide!"

Again Ino grunted before hastily taking the piece of meat in her mouth. Normally she wouldn't consider this good eating but in her case she'd never tasted anything so good before. Eagerly she chewed and swallowed it.

"Feels like I have never eaten before in my life!"Ino tone was now sounding a bit more positive.

Some moments later, Ino felt stuffed and delighted. Life now felt pretty good… except for those broken ribs and stinging pain in the head of course. She sighed and carefully leaned herself backwards.

"You are a good cook Sakura…much better than me_." _She complimented Sakura, who had just started to feed herself.

After breakfast, Sakura moved back over towards Ino to examine her wounds again and check for any infections.

"Ino this might sound weird…please… take off your jacket and shirt."Sakura asked calmly.

"Excuse me??"Ino frowned heavily and really looked surprised

"Take of your shirt and jacket."She said again.

"Why the hell should I do that?"Ino spluttered indignantly.

"I want to look at your wounds again"

"That's not needed Sakura. It hurts like hell but that's about it."

"Come on. It's not such a big deal. Just raise your shirt so I can take a look at your ribs."

Ino broke the eye contact with Sakura and looked down hesitantly. She took of her thin jacket. With her fingers she then started to slowly unbutton her green shirt before hesitantly lifting it off. Sakura's eyes widened a bit and she blushed slightly, as she got a very good look on Ino's very well shaped attractive body. The only thing covering Ino now was a flimsy black bra…the exposure making both of them blush a bit more heavily.

_Wow… I can understand why so many boys want Ino. Her breasts… how the hell does she make them look…so big… her body so perfect? _

Seeing her chest made Sakura remember how she had called Ino _silicon-Pig _once in jealousy of Ino having a sexier body than her.

Ino's upper body did not look completely perfect at the moment, however. There were some small bruises here and there but it was her wound on her left ribcage that took the prize. A large part of Ino's skin on her left ribcage was discoloured in red, blue, and purple and was looking very swollen. It was not a pretty sight.

She was still looking away, carefully avoiding Sakura's gaze as she examined Ino's wounded yet beautiful body. Cautiously, Sakura reached out with her hand, carefully touched and stroked the damaged area with her fingertips. Ino's body reacted immediately, goose bumps turning up as Ino shivered under her touch. Was all that a just a reflex or was it that Ino was nervous for Sakura touching her like that? Through the skin Sakura was feeling Ino's heart beat rapidly and she heard her taking small and short breaths.

"Hey Ino are you nervous for something_?" _Sakura asked curiously. She had to admit that she felt nervous herself.

Immediately Ino bit her lip and turned her head to Sakura, still not looking her in the eyes. Trying to act normal, Ino put up a fake smile. A very slim red tone spread across her face.

"No I'm fine. I…uh… am just freezing a bit and it still hurts you know."

As usual it was no problem for Sakura to tell that Ino was lying big time. After a few more moments of inspection, Sakura concluded the examination, satisfied that everything was being to heal normally.

"Ino this does not look good. No doubt about it, you have broken a lot of ribs and it has become swollen."

"What can we do about it Sakura_"_ The blonde asked, still looking away and avoiding eye contact.

"The same as before. You need to rest and move as little as possible or the broken ribs can hurt your organs, especially the lungs and heart."

"Damn, Just as I expected." Ino hit the ground with her hand in disappointment "Guess there won't be much sight seeing for me. I never even got a good look on that waterfall."

"Trust me Ino…you will get to see it how much as you want once you get healthy again."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The next couple of days passed for the two girls without incident, the time slipping by them faster than they thought. Sakura had ended up going out scouting for a new place to camp every night, then returning to Ino and helping her make her way to the camp she'd set up.

During those nights Sakura found sleep extra hard for her. It was not only the guilt of hurting Ino as it usually was…but more of about Ino herself. Or seeing her half naked body rather, or how she'd touched and stroked her soft skin. Combined with Ino's lavender perfume, Sakura thought that she actually enjoyed touching Ino and staying that close to her while smelling her perfume.

Without her really realizing it, she had even fantasised about the rest of Ino's body…what it looked like without that black bra.

_Why can't I stop thinking about her? I'm not…like that! I have never been and never will!_

Sakura tried to convince herself as best as she could. Turning her head she saw Ino's beautiful sleeping face. She bit herself in the lip frustration as she felt the familiar feelings she'd gotten now when she looked at Ino closely.

"I'm not like that!" She whispered to herself nervously, before finally falling asleep.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Even if the time had passed, Ino's wounds did not seem to get any better. Her head was still suffering from a stinging headache, while the wound on her knee still made her limp very badly. The worst was of course the broken ribs…not a single second passed without her suffering from the intense sharp pain simply breathing caused her.

For every day that passed, Sakura noticed changes in Ino's behaviour. She was getting more aggressive and it was harder to keep up a conversation with her. She couldn't blame her of course; having such severe pain 24 hours a day definitely had an effect on Ino's emotions.

Sakura suffered just as much as Ino, not physically, but emotionally. It was very had for her to just sit back and watch Ino suffer, and have no way to help ease her pain. But not only was her mind filled with worry for Ino, but currently it was also worried about the weather. When they had first started this mission the weather had been sunny and warm. But now…the wind had steadily gotten stronger and colder, it was growing worse by the day.

On the night of the fifth day of their journey, the two girls were fighting their way through the forest, walking on a path during the middle of the night. The wind had indeed gotten extremely strong, making their clothes and hair flap everywhere, in all directions. The trees swayed violently, their leaves flying everywhere. Sakura cursed as she did her best to help Ino stand and walk; the nasty weather not helping in the slightest.

"Damn! I bet Kakashi knew that this storm would show up." Sakura said, a bit pissed off. This really seemed to fit her Senseis tricks.

"Yeah" Ino agreed "Asuma too. No wonder that they made us do this. They wanted to give us a real challenge."

"This is only the beginning of it. We might face something far worse soon"

Ino nodded grimly.

"Sakura we have been walking for a long time now. How far away are we from the next place to rest?" Ino's strength was slowly dropping and she needed to rest as soon as possible.

Sakura waited with her reply. She had gone out walking earlier to scout for the next campsite and had found one…a cave that would give them good protection. However, she was having a hard time finding it again with this weather…

"I found us a cave but it is still a ways away. It will protect us well from this damn storm." Sakura explained.

She took a look at Ino who was panting and looking tired. Sakura was not sure if Ino had the strength to keep walking much longer.

"Hey…Sakura do you even know where we are going?" Ino was beginning to lose patience and felt herself growing more irritated by the second.

"The truth is…well…no." Sakura's voice trailed off as she realized she was unable to hide it anymore.

The answer from Sakura made Ino stop and look at her with a stern look.

"You mean we are LOST?" She exclaimed indignantly.

"I don't know, maybe a little." Sakura nodded, biting her lip nervously.

"What the hell Sakura! You went out scouting before and came back and now you can't find your way back?" Ino raised her voice, almost screaming to be heard over the loud wind.

"But it is very dark now and the storm has blown the path away. I don't recognize the way any longer!" Sakura had to explain to the angry Ino. It felt like a bad explanation, but it was the truth.

"I told you that you should have gone out earlier. Some ninja you are who gets lost in a forest…" Ino complained and grunted in irritation. The last part of her sentence made Sakura snap!

"Then why don't you just go out searching for yourself you you…crippled bimbo!"

Sakura had good patience; nevertheless she felt Ino was really starting to annoy her.

Instantly Sakura cringed and slapped herself mentally for saying that. Ino could barely walk on her own and was very upset about it. Ino hated that she had to be nursed and taken care of like a child. Sakura did not even have time to open her mouth and apologize, for Ino was quick to respond.

"Sakura… that was below the belt…" Ino said with a low tone while keeping her gaze on the ground. It was obvious that the comment had upset her and hit a sensitive spot. For a couple of short moments, neither of them exchanged any words with each other for it seemed that every word they said only made things worse and made themselves soar away from each other.

Suddenly, a gust of wind greatly blew down between them before they even had a chance to blink, sending Ino and Sakura off balance and causing them to crash to the ground. As Ino's back hit the ground; she heard a wet cracking sound inside of her chest, followed by an excruciating pain to shoot up through it.

A lengthy piercing scream of pain escaped from Ino, filling Sakura's ears and sending chills down her spine. Immediately Sakura put her hands on the wet ground and stood up unsteadily, looking down at her friend who was shrieking and writhing in intense pain with her arms around her chest. Sakura quivered heavily, she had never ever heard Ino or any human screaming that much from pain.

"Gghh…Sakura…you…bitch!" Ino spat out angrily with a murderous look in her eyes. For every word she uttered out she had to take a new breath for it had become quite hard to breath. Again Sakura was immediately slammed with guilt.

"Oh my god! Ino I am sorry! It was the wind…it was the wind! I swear I did not mean it…I did not push you!" Sakura stammered almost hysterically. She reached out her hands to help Ino up but she just cursed and slapped her hands away.

"Don't touch me!" She yelled furiously, grinding her teeth in anger.

"I just wanted to help you get back up on your feet." Sakura said hesitantly, stepping back a bit.

"I don't need your help! I don't need you to feed me or to help me walk! I can and will take care of myself."

Sakura decided it was best to not answer…Ino's didn't really mean what she was saying; it was the pain, and the feeling of helplessness that made Ino act like this. So instead Sakura merely watched as her friend struggled in her attempt at standing up. Ino's right leg quivered heavily as she got herself up to a standing position, although she was swaying dangerously. Taking a couple of steps forward, she did not get far as the pain in her knee arose to the level where it became too much for her to even lift her leg, as she was forced to just stand there helplessly.

A single tear ran down from her cheek from the pain and her failure. Never before had Ino felt this useless…she was after all a skilled chuunin from the leaf, but now because of some broken ribs, wounded knee and concussion she was crippled and defenceless like a child. Quickly she wiped the tear away for she could not let Sakura see her crying.

Sakura shook her head, feeling pity well up in her chest for Ino.

_Ino still can't walk and her wounds are not getting any better. It's fortunate that I am here with her or she would surely die. She would not even be able to get any help…it's a long walk to the village. _

"Ino…I know you are in great pain, there is no denying that but you need my help. Please stop being so stubborn and admit to yourself that you are seriously wounded and not strong enough to survive on your own."

"One day…Sakura… You will be the death of me…"

Sakura was not sure what to say to respond to that remark, but didn't give it another through as she heard a loud crack. She whipped her head around to see a tall tree give way to the strong wind. In an instant Sakura realised it was beginning to fall towards where Ino was standing. Ino looked up and saw what was happening, unable to do anything other than raising her arms up to protect herself as good as she could; she was far too weak and slow at the moment to even move out of the way.

Just like when Sakura had seen how Ino had fallen down from the waterfall, she moved with lighting speed to grab Ino tightly, moving her swiftly upwards as fast as possibly, not able to worry about her injuries at the moment. She wasn't fast enough though, as she felt something heavy striking her on the head, almost knocking her senseless.

"You…ok…Ino?" Sakura mumbled weakly. Ino turned around, her eyes widening as she saw Sakura's face. Her eyes were bloodshot and her face was pale, completely devoid of colour, except for the thick red blood that was running down the side of her face.

"Sakura, you're hurt!" Ino's words echoed inside Sakura's aching head.

"No…I…"

Sakura could not finish her sentence before everything went black. She fell forward onto the ground and did not move.

Ino stared with an open mouth at Sakura's still body, which showed no signs of life.

"Dammit…this is not good..." Her mind was simply too tired to show any more serious emotional reactions.

Ino was crippled and barely had the strength to move at all. Sakura was unconscious with a severe head injury. Things couldn't possibly get worse to Ino, but then they did. Something small, wet and cold landed Ino's head. Looking up to the dark sky, a couple of more water drops landed on her face and rapidly increased before it started to rain so much that it felt like standing in a cold shower.

Sakura and I…we are going to die in this forest… 

Ino started to go over what she could do to make sure both her and Sakura would survive through the cold and stormy night, not making any progress.

Things were really not looking good for them…

End of chapter 7

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Oh no! Now Sakura is hurt too! What will happen to the two girls? Wait and find out in chapters 8. How far is Ino willing to go to make sure that both of them will survive through the night?


	8. From bad to worse

**A/N: **I give you all the eight chapter. I expected to get more reviews from the big cliff hanger in the previous chapter. My goal is to pass 100 reviews and I still got 6 chapters left (including this one) so I will probably make it. Feel free to contribute to help me reach the goal ) The real Shojo-Ai part is getting closer as you will notice in the end of the chapter ;)

_Italic text is when someone is thinking_

**"this is text when quoting a sentence from a previous chapter" **

Replies to reviews.

**HikaruOfArrow:**You don't have to wait any more. Here it is :P

**Nevermore-raven: **Thanks a lot for everything.

**Lim**: Is it good that they are both hurt and it is raining? You hope to see a better what? o.o

**Yugi****-Obsessed: **Thank you. Keep reading it please :)

**Pichachu: **Fear not. Everything is going to be fine :) or will it?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

**Rivals, Friends, and Lovers**

**Chapter 8: From bad to worse**

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The sun had gone down hours ago. Night had replaced all light with pitch darkness. Only the moon provided some light, albeit a bit weak, for the forest to be visible. The sky had opened itself up, a torrent of rain pouring over the two kunoichi. A minute after being exposed to the elements, their clothes completely soaked stuck to their skin like cold glue.

Only a couple of minutes had passed since Sakura had fallen unconscious. She had pushed Ino out of the way of the falling tree, successfully saving her from almost certain death…but instead Sakura had taken the blow from the tree directly on her head.

Ino lay on her side, staring at the unconscious body of Sakura. Her face was twisted with nervousness and she shivered, whether from the weather or nervosa she didn't know. A trail of blood trickled down Sakura's forehead, mixing with the raindrops in the soil. With her hands and elbows, Ino crawled and dragged herself to her, shaking her gently while calling her name in a tired voice.

"Sakura…"

Ino looked down at her, who was not responding. She considered what to do next with their current situation. Ino was much too weak and wounded to move on her own, while Sakura was unconscious and there was no way to tell how badly hurt she was, or even when she would regain consciousness. As it was, the rain was falling heavier now and the wind was blowing extremely hard, causing Ino's wet hair to fly around wildly in her face as she hovered over Sakura's body.

Sakura had taken care and nursed Ino even though neither of them really liked it but Sakura still knew she had to do it for it was her responsibility. Now it was time for the roles to change.

_You saved my life again Sakura…why do you keep doing that?_ Ino thought to herself as she stared at Sakura's body, before remembering what Sakura had told her before.

**"You may be my rival Ino… but you are also my best friend. I shall protect you even if it will kill me. I am sure you think the same about me for that's what friends are for"**

Sakura's words from the past echoed inside Ino's head.

_You are my rival… my equal…my best friend…but to me you are also something else…something you don't know about me because I am so afraid you will hate me if you find out, and I can't risk losing my best friend…_ Ino smiled weakly, reaching out to caress Sakura's face.

Ino needed move both herself and Sakura to a safer place, to that cave Sakura had mentioned before. It would not be easy with the wounds she had.

She remembered how Sakura had saved her from falling to her death before. Things had looked grim, and yet Sakura refused to give up and had managed to save her.

**"Yeah…you saved my life…guess I owe you one"** She had told Sakura on that day, the day when Ino's life and existence could have ended but was prevented by Sakura's willpower. Ino's expression got more determined as she looked down on Sakura.

"This time Sakura I won't lose to you. I will make up for what you did for me on that day by saving you… and save myself too while I'm at it."

Once again, she tried to get up, only to be stopped again by the combination of exhaustion and pain. It was simply too much for her mind and body to handle….she felt horrible inside for her failure and weakness.

If Sakura were in my situation…she would have ignored the pain and kept walking until she died. I can't even take a single step…

She bit her lip nervously, unsure of what to do before turning her face again to look at the unconscious face of Sakura.

"Maybe you are a little stronger than me Sakura…" She murmured to herself. "But I will still beat you!"

Her determination which had sunk rock bottom flew instantly back up to the top after she said those words. Hoping to find something useful, Ino put her hands into one of the many pockets her clothes had. Most of them were empty to her dismay, except for one where her fingers felt something.

_Oh no! How could I forget I had these with me?_ She thought as she remembered what it was.

Out from the pocket she took out what looked to be a folded hankie, and opened it. Inside were three small brown ball shaped objects, otherwise known as soldier pills. They had been given to her as a gift from her team mate Chouji. Soldier pills were hard to obtain because you were only allowed to have them on missions or exams and only medical ninjas had the authorization to distribute them. Chouji's family though had plenty of pills and so then he had given some to Ino.

Ino took one of the pills and swallowed it instantly. It did not take long before she could feel her stamina and chakra being replenished. Feeling alive again, it was now no problem for her to get up and walk a couple of steps before quickly dropping down again to her knees while whimpering in pain, clutching her broken ribs and fractured knee.

She had dealt with exhaustion problem but the soldier pills could not do anything against the pain that throbbed inside her, especially with the new pain that had started to come after recently falling to the ground.

"I'm sorry Sakura… the pain…is too much for me. Forgive me for my weakness…" She weakly said, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.

I might as well curl up and die; at least it will be a good death for me. To die together with Sakura…

When Ino turned her head to the left, through the water drops she saw a small bush, which she hadn't noticed before. Immediately Ino recognized it, looking at the yellow berries that covered the bush.

_Dream berries!_

Ino began to slowly make her way to the bush by crawling on her stomach, her body making a trail in the wet mud. It was not easy; the pain in the ribs and knee stung her heavily.

I can't believe it. Dream Berries usually don't grow in forests like this, especially not during this time of the year. What the heck, it's still my ticket out of here.

Dream Berries were known to be pretty effective as painkillers, although they can dull your senses and can make you a bit light headed. Ino grinned triumphantly as she reached the bush, her hands picking off all the small yellow berries gathering them together in a pile. After she had over a hundred of them she put them all in small plastic bag. This would make this whole trip a lot easier.

Putting her hand in the bag, Ino grabbed a handful of the berries, chewing on them thoughtfully. They were very sour tasting and were far from other berries she had eaten before. Just like when she had taken the soldier pill it only took a minute before the pain in her head, knee, and most importantly her ribs started to fade away. The berries did not remove the pain completely but enough for Ino to walk normally and not think so much about it.

_Now I am ready!_

Quite easily she walked back Sakura, still limping a bit though, lifting her up and putting Sakura over her shoulder. Being slightly more muscular than Sakura helped Ino carrying her.

Thank god for finding those berries and having soldier pills with me or else this would have never worked.

Still she had a long and tough walk was ahead of her. The rain and the storm showed no signs of stopping and just kept raining and blowing.

"Hang in there Sakura, I will bring us both to safety," she said and started walking towards through the storm.

However…

Ino had no idea what was truly happening inside her chest…she did not know the real reason why that wet snapping sound was heard inside of her before and why she was feeling this new kind of pain inside of her chest…

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

One hour later

Ino's mood had really hit the bottom. A series of curses flew out from her mouth; some of them especially nasty and had unheard to human ears before. She hated rain; it ruined her make up, washed off her perfume and made her hair sticky and uncombed, but worst of all it made her all wet and cold. Time after time she had kicked dirt and loose rocks with her healthy leg in anger and frustration.

"Damn it all to hell! Damn you Asuma-Sensei! Damn You Kakashi!" She cursed vehemently, furious at them for sending Sakura and Ino out here.

"And damn you too Sakura for constantly trying to save me all the time! You should have let that branch hit me since I'm mortally wounded already No need for both us to be like that!" She cursed her unconscious friend too, seeming to be ungrateful that it was thanks to Sakura she was still alive.

"I could have stayed in a warm bed at home right now but noooo! I am forced to walk in a forest in the middle of the night during a storm while carrying around a body and having half of my bones broken!!" Ino kept complaining to herself angrily.

The effects of the soldier pill and dream berries were slowly fading away. She had two more soldier pills but she wanted to save them for later use. From the Dream Berries however she still had plenty and she probably could find more if she took some time to look around for in the forest.

_I need to find that cave quickly or both Sakura and I will freeze to death!_

A few moments after she had that thought, she noticed how her surroundings had changed. The amount of trees had gone down significantly and she saw an opening ahead. After walking towards it with renewed hope, Ino saw a very small hill with a cave entrance in it.

"Yes! We are saved! I hope…" Ino smiled victoriously, her fighting had finally saved them both from death.

She was very thankful to have found it when she did; she had no idea how much longer she could've lasted searching. She dragged Sakura and carried their backpacks inside the cave, which on the inside did not look as bad as she thought it would. It was not so big but enough for them to stay there. The ground inside did not have any rocks or bumps but looked pretty clean and well shaped. The depth of it was not much either, about 4 meters deep which Ino liked because then she would not have to worry about the cave already being occupied by some animal.

Still though, even if it gave Sakura and Ino good protection from the rain, it did offer them less against the chilly wind. While being inside the cave, Ino leaned herself against the cold hard wall and sat down, sighing in relief and grimacing slightly in pain. The effects of the dream berries were almost gone; soon she would have to take new ones to make the pain go away. She panted unusually heavy.

_My chest…it feels strange…and when did my stamina become this bad?_

With her hand she gently touched her left breast. She was feeling another kind of pain in her chest. The pain was not in or around her broken ribs instead the pain was deeper inside her, feeling more like a stab wound than a broken bone. She was having trouble breathing properly, if it was because of the new unknown pain or the weather she could not decide.

Tiredly Ino sat down, hugging and rubbing her hands and body to try to keep the heat and blood circulation going.

Suddenly, without warning, a burning headache instantly appeared inside Ino's head. Reflexively she grabbed her head while groaning as it spread and grew further inside her skull. Then she began to feel very nauseous and everything started spinning around her. She went down on her side while grunting in pain.

_Dammit__…what's…what's wrong with me!?_

Her mind tried to think of what was causing this while hoping it would soon disappear.

Thankfully, one minute later the nausea and the head ache disappeared without a trace. She sighed out of relief. But it was not over…Ino felt a acrid taste spreading inside of her mouth. A taste which she had felt before in her life…the taste of blood.

Reflexively her body coughed heavily some times. Something liquid of the same stuff left her mouth. Looking on the ground in front her knees she saw it was stained with blood drops.

"What the hell was that?" She panted heavily, confused. Quickly she forgot about it and did not give it any second thought, it could be nothing and besides she already had a lot to worry about.

Ino was freezing so much that she could not feel her toes or fingers and her teeth chattered endlessly. Lighting a fire would be useless and impossible inside the moist cave. Looking at Sakura who still was unconscious, Ino got reminded that she had a duty to take care of Sakura and she had completely forgotten about it for some minutes.

_Sakura's body must be even colder than mine in her unconscious state…_

There were not much she could do next but to try to sleep, there was one little problem though, they only had one sleeping bag left. Ino had to leave some of their things in the forest in order to carry Sakura and the more important stuff. She cursed herself for not bringing the other sleeping bag; there was no way for her to walk all the way back to get it.

_If I use the sleeping bag Sakura will probably freeze to death. If I give the bag to Sakura then I will surely die in my sleep…_

Ino grunted and slapped herself as she realized what she needed to do. And she really did not like it at all.

It was not easy with the wounds and pain she had, but she managed to put the unconscious Sakura inside the sleeping bag. What was she going to do? Was she really going to sacrifice herself for Sakura to live? No, she did not close the sleeping bag. Instead she moved herself into it too. Ino did not want to let any of them freeze to death so they were going to have share the bag instead and use each others body heats to warm the other. Despite both of them being completely soaked from the rain, Ino thought Sakura's body felt warm.

_Never ever did I think I would actually lie on top of Sakura like this…_

With her ear on Sakura's chest, Ino could hear Sakura's heart beat inside, making her smile weakly.

"You have such a nice heart Sakura; it's so full of love and warmth. How much I wish I could have that love from you" She whispered and brought her eyes from Sakura's chest up to her face instead.

_I wonder if she can hear me…or feel me_

Hesitantly Ino moved her face a bit closer to Sakura's still face.

"Somehow Sakura, I hope you can feel this," Ino whispered and put her right hand on Sakura's cheek, bringing her lips on top of hers, moving them gently for a few seconds. Sakura's lips, Ino felt they tasted sweetly and wore the taste of the rain drops. Ino pulled herself back, still feeling the taste.

_There, it's done. Didn't feel as bad I thought it would be. At least I have finally done it_

"The first and only kiss I will ever share with you…I just wish you could be awake and feel it…maybe even share it with me"

The eyelids of Ino only got heavier and heavier. The last thing she heard before falling asleep were the massive amounts of falling rain drops outside the cave and the heart beat from Sakura. With a smile on her face, she fell asleep.

End of chapter 8

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**A/N:** Aww isn't that cute? what will Sakura think and do when she suddenly sees that that is Ino sleeping on top of her? Why did Ino cough blood and why did her head hurt so badly?  
Those who read the comic "Elfquest" might recognize the name Dream Berries. In the next chapter you will find out what is truly inside Ino's medallion.

You want to talk with me about the story personally? Then check my profile and contact me.


	9. Accidentally or purposely?

**AN: **Hello again. I am here to give you the 9th chapter. This chapter was very hard to write because I went through a frustrating period of writers block. In the beginning the chapter was 2000 words but now it is about 2200 which I got after rewriting it. Despite the rewrite, I still don't feel satisfied about this chapter.  
I guess I have to give you a small warning that the chapter contains female kissing :P

_Italic text is when a character is thinking _

**Replies to reviews.**

**Azrael: **Hi Azrael. Your English is fine by me. Thank you for your kind words. It's nice to see some new reviewers here.

**Ziri**** Okamiotoko: **It's ok. I can take criticism. The reason I let them keep their wet clothes on was because I thought it would be too much for them to be naked together: :P

**Narutowhenimbored: **Thanks to you, I just got one step closer to the goal.

**Noisetank13: **You took your time but thank you.

**Ashko: **Hehe you have not seen the biggest cliff hanger yet. :P

_Italic text is when a character is thinking_

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**Rivals, Friends, and Lovers**

**Chapter 9: Accidentally or purposely?**

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The 6th day of the current week began. The weather had subsided and was now much better than last night with no signs of the storm left. The wind was back to normal and it had become a little warmer and sunnier. Even the sounds of singing birds were back….the scent of recent fallen rain in the air.

This morning however it was not Sakura who woke up first, Instead it was Ino who was the first to wake this time. She slowly opened her tired eyes, her blurry vision gradually turning sharper as more of her senses and body turned awake from its deep slumber. She yawned once while raising her gaze to look outside the cave, feeling relief that the storm was over and both her and Sakura were alive. Sakura's heart beat could still be felt and heard by Ino's ears and body. It sounded stronger and steadier, telling that Sakura had recovered well last night but seemingly not yet regained conscious.

Just like she had fallen asleep last night to prevent herself and Sakura to freeze to death, she was still lying on top of Sakura's unconscious body, holding her in a warming embrace. She smiled weakly as she lowered her head to rest it on Sakura's chest, sighing in delight. She found this scene very arousing, almost a little erotic. How long she had waited to hold someone special like this…

Suddenly, Ino frowned as she heard Sakura mumble in her sleep. Instead of getting off of her, Ino remained and carefully put her face close to the still sleeping face of Sakura.

"Good morning Sakura. Finally awake eh?" Ino whispered, smiling tiredly.

"Sa…Sasuke-Kun…" Sakura mumbled in her sleep, her mind not fully awake. Ino sighed in disappointment hearing Sakura say Sasukes name.

_Not even when she sleeps can she stop thinking about him. Well, it's not like I care about him anyway. I guess that I will not find my love after all…_

Sighing again, Ino continued staring into Sakura's sleeping yet beautiful face and remembered what she had thought about last night. Stroking a hand through Sakura's soft pink hair she whispered to her, not caring if she could hear her or not.

"I don't want to wake you up yet… for this will probably be the last time I will ever look upon you like this, to feel you."

She leaned her face closer to her. Her lips hovered over Sakura's and she considered kissing her briefly, for she could still remember the taste of Sakura's sweet lips. But Sakura could wake up at any moment and Ino didn't want her to see her like this….but something…kept her frozen there.

Sakura kept moving a little and mumbled Sasuke's name again. Before Ino could finally pull herself back up, Sakura quickly put her arms around Ino's neck, pulling her lips close to hers and kissed her! Ino's eyes widened so much in surprise and shock that they nearly popped out of their sockets.

_What the hell!?_

Fury and anger filled her at first, but as Sakura's lips kissed her further, she found they tasted even sweeter this time and felt so soft and wonderful. Ino did not know why she felt her body temperature rapidly rising, her body relaxing or why she kept their lips connected.

_I want to stop her… but why does it feel so good?_

Ino did not know what happened to her as she closed her eyes and started kissing Sakura back a little, giving into the feelings that were filling her mind and body. If Ino knew that Sakura was waking up then she would most likely stop immediately.

Sakura's mind slowly started to wake up from her deep sleep…she had dreamt a romantic dream with Sasuke in it and it felt awfully real, in fact almost too real…She felt someone lying on top of her, embracing her warmly. Her suspicions grew as her hands on the persons back and head investigated who and what they were holding.

_When did Sasuke grow such long silky hair and when did he start using perfume?Wait... this hair and perfume almost reminds me off…_

Opening her eyes she did not see Sasuke, instead she saw Ino sharing a wet kiss with her and the worst thing was that Ino seemed to enjoy it!

"PERVERT!" Sakura screamed into Ino's face and pushed her off by ramming her palms into Ino's chest without thinking. Ino cried out in agony as the sharp pain in her wounded ribs awakened again. Not thinking the slightest about Ino's injuries, Sakura hastily stood up.

"YOU FREAK! PIG!" Sakura's voice grew higher in pitch as she kept screaming down angrily down at the fallen Ino, who was writhing and groaning with her arms around her chest in pain.

_I can't believe it! She actually hit me straight in the ribs_

"Wait… Sakura, you…you…got it all wrong!" Ino said in a hoarse voice, trying to get the words out as best as she could with the pain shooting up and down her chest.

"Wrong?! You kissed me you pervert bitch! You just waited until I feel asleep so that you could try and touch me!"

Sakura's face was red with anger as she grinded her teeth. She had a strong urge to go and kick the fallen Ino hard for what she had done, thankfully she didn't though.

"Damn you Ino! Damn you!! I thought there was hope between us! That we could become friends but now I finally know that it will NEVER happen!"

With that said, Sakura went and picked up her backpack while Ino still lay on the ground and watched her.

"Where… where are you going?" she asked weakly.

"I am going away! I don't know where, as long as I am away from you! If you are so strong then you can survive on your own!" Sakura replied angrily.

"No Sakura…wait…let me explain."

"BYE INO-PIG!!" Sakura yelled, practically spitting out the insult

Sakura did not take any time to listen to Ino's pleadings and quickly walked away, leaving Ino by the camp side on her back coughing badly. Ino felt how it just became harder and harder to breathe with every passing second.

_Damn. What have I done? How could I be so stupid!?_

She cursed herself like many times before. Again she had to suffer for her stupidity and mistakes. A single tear rolled down on her cheek.

_I have now lost my best friend forever, just because of my foolishness_

A couple of more tears rolled down as she sobbed. She felt herself getting weaker and could not find the strength to get back up to her feet while the breathing was getting worse.

"Sakura…I have lost you forever…please forgive me…you MUST forgive me! I can't live without you!" She whispered.

The coughing started again, and now it got a lot worse. A feeling of panic arose in her as she felt her lungs did not get any air, something liquid began filling her mouth and throat that tasted very bitter. Reflexively, Ino put her hand on her mouth as her body coughed one last time. Liquid crimson seeped out between her fingers down on the ground. She took a frightened look on her palm; it was soaked in her blood.

_Why…what's wrong with me? Why do I keep coughing up blood!? Am I dying?!_

She now understood that her wounds were more serious than she thought. The blood from her mouth proved that she had internal bleedings. She needed to get to a hospital as soon as possible. But what if she could not get medical attention in time? What if she was going to die? What if this would be her last day alive?

_I need to find Sakura. I must explain to her! If I am going to die then I must let her know everything about me! I'm not holding back now!_

Ino wiped the blood away from her mouth and spat out some on the ground.

_Looks like I have to use my second soldier pill and some of my dream berries, otherwise I will never get to her_

She swallowed another soldier pill and a mouthful of dream berries. The pain almost disappeared and her body got full of energy. A nearby good walking stick on the ground was going to her walk, for she still limped badly on her right leg. Then she started to follow the same path Sakura took.

_I hope Sakura won't get too far away from me for the effects of the pill won't last for long._

Ino though, while limping slowly forward step by step towards the unknown.

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A little later, far away from Ino…

Sakura continued walking in the forest, following the path while cursing heavily and swinging her fists in anger and kicking the ground. Never ever before had she been this angry…what Ino had done was even worse than from the many stupid things Naruto had done to her before combined!

_Damn Ino-Pig! How the hell could she kiss me like that? I knew she was closet-pervert! I nurse her for days and what do I get for that? Her trying to seduce me!_

While walking, Sakura felt a dull ache in the back of her head. Reaching up with her hand, she didn't feel any blood at all, but a large bump covered by a scab.

"How the hell did I get this wound?" She asked herself curiously. Her mind went back to that moment yesterday, the storm causing a large tree to fall and almost land on Ino, and Sakura had tried to get her out of the way. Judging from the wound she had on her head, Sakura realized the tree must have hit her instead. A flood of relief swept through her body, she was lucky to be alive! That tree looked heavy and big enough to crack a human skull.

"Guess you were right Ino...my thick skull did indeed save me..." She could not help but to smile weakly as she remembered what Ino had told her by the waterfall a few days ago when Sakura had saved Ino.

_Wait a minute…_

Sakura suddenly stopped her walk, her anger gradually ebbing away as she considered what had happened in the morning.

_I woke up inside the cave…so how did I get there? Did Ino carry me? But how did she do that when she can't even walk by herself?_

She frowned heavily and tried to think of any logical explanations.

With her anger completely gone now, Sakura remembered how she had hit Ino hard to get her off her. She looked down at the ground, feeling shame well up in her chest again. She knew how extremely sensitive Ino's wounds were. If just poking her in the ribs was enough to make Ino cry out in pain, how much pain and agony feel when Sakura pushed her off?

_I guess leaving Ino alone was not so smart…I'm not sure…but it sounded like she really had a hard time breathing...I did not like the way she was coughing._

Her mind thought again about Ino's half naked body, her wonderful perfume and nice warm skin, the same thing that had prevented Sakura from sleeping properly for two nights. The kiss that Ino had given her sprung up in her mind. While she didn't know if Ino did it on purpose or accidentally, either way it felt kind of good.

She blushed, causing her to smack herself in the forehead with a shake of her head.

_But I have to admit, that Ino is a damn good kisser_

Turning herself around with the full intention to go back to Ino, she stopped momentarily, hearing a clink at the ground by her feet, as if something metallic was falling to the ground. Glancing down she saw a small silver heart attached to a thin silver chain lying by her feet. Curiously she bent down and picked it up.

_Hmm?__ What's this? This is not mine. No wait, this belongs to Ino…_

She had first seen Ino wearing it when they sat around a camp fire during the night of the first day. Ino had said that it is a special medallion…you are supposed to keep a picture of your true love inside of it. She had also told Sakura that she did keep a picture inside of her true love, but she had never told Sakura who it was.

_I wonder what's inside…_

A thought hit Sakura. Should she open it and peek inside? What harm would that do? Besides, she could almost guess whose picture that would be inside. Most likely it would be Sasuke although it could be Shikamaru too. Sakura felt very sure that Ino and Shikamaru had at least some feelings for each other.

_Just a peek.__ It won't hurt anyone since I already know who it is anyway…_

Carefully Sakura unlocked the silver heart and slowly opened it up. Her eyes widened as they fixed on the small picture contained in the locket; she gasped and took a step back. Inside was indeed a picture of a person but none of the people Sakura had thought of. She kept staring at the picture as if her body was frozen with her mouth gaping.

My god…" She whispered to herself with a shaking lip. "I finally understand now… this explains everything."

Inside was not a picture of Sasuke or Shikamaru… it was a picture of Sakura…

End of chapter 9

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Looks like things are starting to clear up but not completely. In the next chapter, Ino will try to explain everything to Sakura? What will she say? What will Sakura say and think now that she knows what's inside the medallion? Oooh the suspense! The next chapter will be very good. I promise you that.  
Like I said at the top of this chapter, I am not satisfied with this chapter. I wanted to write better about Sakura's growing feelings for Ino. Oh well, I do my best.

You want to talk with me about the story personally? Then check my profile and contact me.


	10. My true feelings for you

A/N: Only 3 reviews for chapter 9 :/ Oh well I must go on. This chapter contains a mild lime scene between two females a bit near the end so if you don't like that stuff you might want to skip this chapter. Writers block is a writer's worse enemy. I was planning to rewrite this chapter as well but never got the time or lust to do so.

**Replies to reviews.**

**Nevermore-raven:** Whats so confusing about it? Both the purpose and the content of it has been explained. In this chapter however, Ino explains why she has Sakura's picture inside it…

**Ashko:** Oh really? Even though I dislike parts of chapter 9, I was however satisfied with the ending.

_Italic text is when a character is thinking_

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**Rivals, Friends, and Lovers**

**Chapter: 10 My true feelings for you**

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It was late in the evening of the sixth day. Sakura had found a new place to rest as she sat below a large wooden log with her knees apart on the ground. In her hand she still held the heart shaped silvery medallion, being unable to remove her gaze or mind from it. She did not know for how long she had held or stared at it. For her it seemed like time had ceased to exist.

Like many times before, Sakura opened the medallion only to see the same thing again, a small photo with Sakura's smiling face on it. What bothered her the most was that it was Ino's medallion, not Sakura's. Ino had explained to her before that it was special medallion where you are supposed to keep a picture of your true love inside. She had just thought that it was all just some fancy romantic thing for kids. Fancy or not, she could not simply just ignore the fact that Ino had secretly carried a picture of her best friend.

_Am I the one for her? Am I Ino's true love? Is that why she keeps a picture inside of this thing or is it because she thinks I am her greatest friend? _

_I admit I like Ino…but how much? Do I really like her THAT much?_

She closed her eyes and let her mind wander back to their time here in the forest. That day when she had seen Ino's attractive half naked body and how they had kissed each other earlier in the current day, partially accidentally; still it felt kind of good.

Her thoughts left her abruptly as she heard the sound of slowly approaching footsteps behind her. Whoever it was, the person was using a stick for support.

Quickly Sakura put back the medallion into her pocket, not bothering to turn around to look at who it was for she already knew.

In the corner of her eye, Sakura looked as Ino came forth. She hovered with her right foot above the ground to not bother her wounded knee further. Under her right armpit she had a sturdy wooden stick to walk with. She went and sat herself down below the same log next to Sakura, neither of them saying anything.

"Hey…" Ino said quietly, breaking the silence without looking at Sakura.

"Hey…" Sakura replied back, doing the same. Another minute of silenced passed before it was broken again by Sakura.

"How did you manage to walk here on your own?" She asked and turned her head to her friend, not looking into her eyes though. To answer her question without talking, Ino took out her hand from one of her pockets, revealing some yellow berries in her palm.

"Dream berries? That explains it." Sakura was no expert in herbals like Ino; still she recognized them and knew about their painkilling ability. More silence passed until Sakura decided to once and for all find out the true purpose for Ino's medallion. "Ino… you dropped something before"

"Really? What?" Ino wondered curiously and raised an eyebrow, having no clue that her medallion was lost.

Sakura swallowed some hesitation and put her hand into her pocket to pull out something, letting it dangle down by holding its metal chain, her friend and rival recognized it immediately. It was Ino's silver heart medallion. At first Ino's eyes widened in fear as she realized that Sakura must have looked inside it. But the scared face quickly turned into a fake happy one.

"Oh thank you Sakura!" She tried to look glad as she hastily took back her medallion from Sakura's hand. Again, her fake outer self did not fool Sakura. It was almost that she could hear Ino's sudden increase of heart beat that matched Sakura's nervous one.

After a small moment of stillness and hesitation from Sakura, she asked the question she had wanted to ask Ino since she found out what was inside the medallion.

"Ino…" Sakura's voice faltered. Her heart beat sped up to the point it was starting to hurt.

"Yes?" Ino wondered, bracing herself. Sakura took a deep breath before continuing…and then she formed the words…

"Why…why do you have a picture of me…inside the medallion?"

The question hit Ino really hard. At first she looked shocked however Sakura easily saw how she tried to hide it by thinking that it was just a joke.

"What? What are you talking about Sakura?" She said with a fake smile and tried to giggle but after years of friendship, she was unable to trick her friend.

"Don't try to fool me Ino. I know what I saw." Sakura did her best to remain calm. It would be best to let Ino explain without Sakura pushing her too hard.

Ino's smile vanished.

"I…I…I don't know." She stammered nervously.

"Please Ino, I want an explanation. What's wrong?" Sakura carefully pleaded.

"No please Sakura, I don't want to talk about it." Ino broke the eye contact and moved herself away a couple of inches.

Even though she had decided before to tell her everything, she had lost the will and courage to do it now that she had found out that Sakura already knew about the medallion. Sakura kept going with her attempts to find out about Ino's problem. It was too late for both of them to stop now.

"Yes you will. Sooner or later you have to Ino. Does…it have to do with anything…what happened earlier this morning?" Sakura was referring to how she and Ino had kissed each other.

Ino remained silent and nervous then opened her mouth to explain. She could no longer hide it from Sakura. It was time for her to explain everything and confess…

"Sakura…Do… Do you remember the day before we went to the forest, when I told you I had spent the night with a charming and romantic boy?"

(See chapter 1)

"Yes. What does that have to do with this?" Sakura nodded frowning. Not seeing or finding any connections to Ino's date and their kissing.

"Sakura…" Her voice trailed off. She brought her knees up to her head and the arms around them, digging her head in as if trying to hide from the reality.

"Ino…" Sakura understood Ino was having difficulty confessing to her so she moved closer to Ino and put her comforting arm around Ino's shoulder like a good friend should do.

"You can tell me…" She whispered caringly.

"Sakura… I was out that night… but… I was not out with a boy."

"A man?"

"No not that either…" Ino shook her head.

So Ino was not out with a boy or a man, so there was only one possible guess left.

"You were out with…" Before Sakura could finish the sentence Ino spoke again with a slightly more upset voice.

"Yes Sakura. I was out with a woman!" Throwing her head up from her knees, Ino's eyes were puffy and red with tears. When she said that, she felt she wanted to disappear from the world. She thought Sakura would become shocked, however she took it cool.

"But why Ino, why did you date a woman?"

Wiping away a few tears with her thin jacket, Ino began to tell Sakura the rest of the explanation while still sobbing slightly.

"It was not actually a date. I felt so depressed that day so I decided to go to the café and drink something. While I sat there, a woman came and sat next to me. She was a couple of years older than me and she was beautiful as an angel. We began to talk a little and she said she was not from this village but was just passing through for a couple of days. It got very late so we left the café while it was dark and started walking together."

Ino took a quick breath before continuing.

"Maybe she got a little drunk from the sake she drank but she told me she was into girls. She told me almost everything there is to know about being one. It taught me and made me think a lot about my own sexuality…Before she left; she brought me in close… and kissed me…"

She made a pause and it looked as if she hesitated before very anxiously saying something she wished she would never say.

"Sakura… I…I think I am lesbian too"

Silence…

"I…I don't know what to say Ino." Sakura said confused and slightly shocked. It had been a long time since she had felt this speechless before.

"I don't expect you to say much either but now I have said it."

"But why are you crying?" Tightening her grip around Ino's shoulder, Sakura inched herself closer to her.

"Because I hate it!" Ino's sad mood and voice turned a bit into anger but the anger was not meant towards Sakura "I don't want to be like that. What shall my parents say when they find out? They will realize that their only child will never be able to give them any grand children. They will probably blame themselves and let me go through a lot of psycho stuff and give me tons of pills in order to change me" She yelled.

"But Ino, don't you think it has something do with…well you know we are still going through puberty. Both our minds and body are going through huge changes."

"No Sakura! Haven't you noticed how I have looked at you when I knew you were not seeing me? It is not only you Sakura but other girls too like Tenten and Hinata as well. I feel… I want to be with them…feel them… It all started two years ago when I first started noticing myself… getting attracted to other women, my interests in boys diminished in time."

The angst overcame Ino as let her head sink down to her raised knees. She felt indescribably horrible.

"I feel so useless, like a freak, an outcast. All the girls will start to despise and avoid me when they find out about me"

"Ino you are wrong. You are not useless and no freak or outcast. I don't care what you are or will be but I won't ever despise you." Ino raised her head from her knees and looked into Sakura's understanding eyes.

"Do…do you really mean that Sakura?"

"You know me Ino. I would never lie to you when you feel this bad."

Ino embraced Sakura with her arms tightly while sobbing against her chest. Hope surged through Ino as she felt so glad that Sakura was so understanding.

"Thank you Sakura…Thank you for being here with me."

Gently Sakura patted Ino's back. She did not recognize her. She knew Ino was not the type to cry in front of other people, yet here she was, crying against Sakura's chest like a child.

Ino slowly raised her head up and got eye contact with her friend. She hesitated heavily before unsurely moving her lips closer to Sakura's. Just when their lips were millimetres from each other, Ino pulled herself back again and shamefully broke the eye contact.

"I'm sorry!" She whimpered quietly and began sobbing again. But Sakura gently put her fingers on Ino's head and made her look at her again, smiling.

Slowly she moved her mouth closer to Ino's head until her closed lips got placed on Ino's soft cheek, giving her a brief kiss. Ino felt a thrill up her spine as Sakura pulled back with a weak smile on her lips.

"Why, why did you do that?" She asked very curiously and shocked.

"Did it feel good or bad for you Ino?" Sakura answered Ino quietly while looking into her eyes.

"I… I…good…I guess." Ino stammered confused.

"If it felt good Ino, would it feel bad if you kissed me back?" Sakura said, once again Ino hesitated, and this time heavier. The distance between the two girls faces were only mere millimetres.

"I love you Sakura…I love you with my entire heart."

The final part of Ino's confession was whispered into Sakura's ears. Neither of them hesitated the slightest as Sakura put her arms around Ino's neck while Ino put hers around Sakura's back, pulling each others faces closer until their lips met. They calmly moved their lips against each other, making Sakura again think about how such a good kisser Ino was while Ino felt the flavour of Sakura's lips for the third time.

The kissing became more passionate as Sakura felt Ino's tongue trying to get into her mouth which she accepted.

Still not breaking up the kiss, Sakura did no resistance as Ino pulled her down to the ground, not even doing any as Ino moved herself on top of her, careful to not put too much weight on her broken ribs.

The girls spent many minutes to passionately kiss the other on the ground, their tongues battled over dominance while exchanging saliva with each other, both of them feeling how their body temperatures were quickly rising.

Ino moved her hips against Sakura's body while Sakura's hands travelled up and down on Ino's back and through her silky hair. She thought Ino's hair was truly unique. Despite of it having gone through days of rough weather, it was softer and smoother than silk.

Ino then broke off the kiss and instead brought her face and head down to Sakura's shoulder and neck. Her body shivered, her mouth let out a long gasp as she felt Ino's tongue and lips tenderise her neck wet with saliva.

All this kissing felt extremely good but it was not enough to satisfy growing Ino's lust. She wanted more! With her fingers, Ino pulled down the zipper of Sakura's jacket all the way to the bottom before spreading it open. Beneath the jacket there was a white tanktop. The contours of Sakura's breasts and a coloured bra could be seen through it. With her hands and with some help from Sakura, she took off Sakura's jacket and threw it aside. Ino dug her face between her friend's breasts and snuggled around them, making Sakura gasp and shiver again. No one had ever touched her like this before.

While brining back her lips to Sakura's, Ino slid one of her hands in under Sakura's tanktop and cupped one of her breasts, making Sakura moan inside Ino's mouth before her own hands removed Ino's jacket to rub her hands on the hot skin of Ino's back. With some small movements from her hands and fingers, she was just about to unhook and take off Ino's bra. However, suddenly something happened as Ino broke of the kiss and hissed while grimacing.

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked concernfully while panting lightly but Ino did not answer but grumbled for a second while putting a hand on her head and the other on her left chest.

"Ino?" Sakura wondered, now starting to get very worried as she saw how Ino was clutching her wounds by the head and chest. Was Ino maybe feeling hesitant or regret for what they where? She understood when she heard the groaning and hissing coming from her, Ino was in agony again.

"Dammit! Not…now!" Ino said to herself grinning in pain with her eyes closed.

"Is it your ribs again?"

"Yes!" Ino nodded her head "Its getting hard to breath again…and my head…god it hurts!" A stinging headache was rapidly filling Ino's head. It felt as if the insides of her head were on fire.

Ino began to cough while holding her mouth, it really sounded nasty as if something liquid was stuffed in her throat. Luckily, the coughing and the pain inside her head only lasted for about a minute.

"You alright Ino? Is it over?"

"Yeah…guess so." Ino answer sounded groggy as she turned her head looking at the ground. Sakura only saw Ino's hair and not her face. She looked down on her belly as she felt liquid drops falling out from Ino's face onto Sakura's white tanktop, staining it with red spots. Immediately Sakura lifted Ino's head upwards to see what it was. Ino's lips and mouth were oozing out blood.

"Ino! You are bleeding!"

"Sakura…I…I don't feel so well…" She sounded even dozier and very nauseous.

Quickly Sakura realized the source and reason of the blood coming from Ino, along with her coughing. Blood, coughing, hard to breathe…and now blood from the nostrils as well. It could only mean one thing…

"This blood…it's not coming from a wound in your mouth!" Sakura's voice trailed down "Ino…you have internal bleedings…"

Ino was speechless but did not seem to care much about what she already knew. She spat out some blood on the ground while using some unused bandages to wipe the blood off from her face.

"How long have you been bleeding like this?"

"It…started yesterday, after you had saved me from that falling tree. But I thought it was nothing. And…" Ino explained. The blood stopped oozing out from her nose and mouth, enabling her to breathe a little better. She grabbed her chest as she spoke again.

"And I think I have punctured one of my lungs…what shall I do Sakura?"

"We…we need to stop this" Sakura stammered slightly nervous, referring to the recent sexual act between them. I am sorry Ino but even the slightest move can be fatal for you."

"Oh…" Ino nodded understandably but was clearly disappointed.

The girls put their clothes back on and prepared themselves to rest. When Sakura laid herself down onto the blanket, Ino joined up next to her, embracing her whole body.

"Please Sakura; if this is going to be my last night, let me just hold you…"

Sakura nodded and embraced Ino back.

"Tomorrow morning we will immediately take you to the hospital. We can't reach it while it's dark. Please stay alive for me Ino, survive through this night and it will be over tomorrow" Sakura pleaded with a soft tone to Ino.

It did not take long before they fell asleep together in each others arms. This night they would not freeze as they warmed each other with the others body heat.

They had no idea that the morning tomorrow was going to change their lives forever…

End of chapter 10

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Does this look to be a happy ending? Well…there are still 3 chapters left so plenty of things remains to happen and to be seen. Prepare yourself for a SHOCKING chapter next week! It is not to be read by the weak hearted.

You want to talk with me about the story personally? Then check my profile and contact me.


	11. Hurting my dearest of friends

**AN:** I decided to put this chapter up a little earlier than usual for I want to get the story out of my priority list and move on.  
I have waited a long time to post this chapter. I am dieing to read your reviews. Of course it is my duty to warn you though.

WARNING: Chapter contains sensitive stuff and shall not be read by the weak hearted. I don't want to go into details about what it is for I don't want to spoil.

_italic text is when a character is thinking_

Replies to reviews

**Ashko:** Well it is a fic. I had to bend the realism a bit. Yes, the next chapter will be very very interesting (In fact you are reading it right now)

**Zeramis:** Thank you. Good to know that you liked it all and had nothing to complain about.

**Animecute101:** Lee Ino? Sorry I don't like that. Oh well. Keep reading and reviewing :)

**Xoni Newcomer:** Now that's what I call a real review. Really appreciated. About them walking on the cliff walls, life I said earlier, Ino could not reach the cliff wall with her feet. I am no doctor so I don't exactly know all the details when a persons lung get punctured but this is a fic after all based on an anime where people have survived far worse wounds. The reason Ino is coughing blood is because the blood is filling her lung, it is the coughing that prevents her from drowning in her own blood. I hope you will keep following this story.

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**Rivals, Friends, and Lovers**

**Chapter 11: Hurting my dearest of friends...**

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The seventh and final day of the week began with the sun coming up from the horizon, gradually turning the sky from black into blue.

The pink haired girl Sakura woke up from her slumber. The first thing her sleepy eyes saw was being face to face with a sleeping blond beauty quietly inhaling and exhaling in her sleep. Just like they had fallen asleep last night, Ino and Sakura were still lying next to each other in a comforting and warming embrace.

Hot sweat was covering Sakura's cold face and her heart beating rapidly because of regret. However this time it was because of something completely different. She was not feeling remorse for accidentally hurting Ino, instead she was feeling regret to what had happened last night.

Last night Ino had confessed her true love and explained everything to her. Just moments after that, they had kissed, almost made love to each other. Who knows what would have happened if Ino's wounds had not stopped them? Carefully, Sakura crawled herself up to not wake Ino and turned herself around to sit down on the wooden log nearby.

_Ino loves me? With her entire heart?_

It was not that Sakura was being loved that troubled her; it was that the person who loved her was the same gender as her, her best friend to be exact.

_I really like Ino...maybe more than a friend...still; do I love her THAT much? Am I like Ino? A lesbian?_

Sakura wanted to know if her recently developed feelings for Ino were because she actually loved her or if it had part of her guilt for seriously wounding her. Was she prepared to go through the same future problems as her? What would her parents and friends think? How can Sakura have children if she lives with Ino?

She felt she needed more time to think. Telling Ino all this would not be easy...still, it had to be done.

_How can I tell her?_

Sakura did not even want to think about how Ino was going to react.

Sakura's deep pondering blinded her senses.

All of a sudden, while she was sitting on the log, she felt a pair of warm arms cuddle themselves around her torso, hugging her tightly and lovely, sweet perfume of lavender was sensed by her nose, wet soft lips kissed her cheek. The warmth from the arms, the scent from the perfume and the lips would normally make Sakura relax and smile widely in enjoyment, instead she did not...

"Good morning Sakura" The familiar voice from Ino really sounded happy. It had been a while since Sakura had heard her sound like that.

"Good morning to you too Ino." Sakura's respond however sounded a little gloomy. "You slept well?" Then asking what she had asked Ino everyday ever since they had gotten here.

"Lovely..." Ino's smile widened "I did not catch much sleep last night. Instead, I stayed awake and took pleasure of feeling your warm body tightly embraced against mine."

Sakura still felt Ino's arms around her chest, how Ino cuddled with her head against Sakura's neck and shoulder. Memories of what had happened last night between her and Ino returned to Sakura's troubled mind.

"Ino..." Sakura began; her voice showed signs of hesitation "what happened last night was...." She did not have enough time to finish her sentence as Ino abrupt her.

"What we did last night is something I will never ever forget Sakura. For so long I have dreamed and fantasised about it and still can't understand that my dream has finally come true. At last I have found a person who truly loves and cares about me"

A silence took place before Ino continued.

"And I can't wait to resume and finish what we did yesterday." She giggled, referring to how Sakura and Ino almost had made love to each other but Ino's wounds had stopped them. Gracefully Ino moved her hands in beneath Sakura's jacket and caressed her stomach with her fingertips and kissed her cheek again.

"Stop it." Carefully, Sakura protested. She cursed on the inside as she did not expect Ino to wake up yet. She wanted to bring her to Konohas hospital first and give her proper medical attention. It was time to say it now. There was no return.  
"Ino... I have thought all night. It's not easy for me to say this but..."

"But what's wrong?" The curiosity and worriedness made Ino lift her head away from Sakura's shoulder, bracing herself for the worse possible answer ever.

"What we did last night felt good... but also kind of unpleasant for me. I feel that to me Ino, you are more of a friend...I don't hate you Ino but... I don't think I love either..."

Sakura's heartbeat increased, just waiting for Ino's response and actions. With Ino sitting behind Sakura, she could not see or tell Ino's reaction until Ino quietly said.

"You don't... love me?"

"I have no idea what I think anymore. Maybe I do but I just feel I am not ready to have a relationship with you...I need more time to think about all this"

Again nothing but silence came from Ino. Judging from how Sakura felt Ino's hands tighten their grips around Sakura's arms, how Ino's body trembled slightly told Sakura that she was taking it badly.

"Sakura..." Ino whispered growlingly "do you have ANY idea what last night meant to me?"

Turning her body around to face Ino, Sakura saw her looking down at the ground, not being able to see her face at all but only her blonde scalp. Sakura really felt bad for letting Ino to know all this in the morning after what happened last night but she needed to say it.

"I am so sorry Ino but I can't lie to neither myself or to you."

"You...are...sorry?" Ino said, still with her gaze down to the ground, whispering angrily while breathing heavily from being so emotionally upset along with having a punctured lung. Ino's life and world were collapsing inside of her. Her hopes for a good future were crumbling to dust while her hands around Sakura's arms tightened themselves so much that it started to hurt.

"You are hurting me Ino!"

Sakura tried to struggle a little to break free from Ino's iron hard grip, to tell her to let go before Ino raised her face again. Her face was totally red with tears coming out from her eyes and grinding her teeth in anger.

"You are sorry???" She spat out straight into Sakura's face who cowered backwards with fear. "Do you have any god damn idea what last night meant for me Sakura??? For two years I have not been able to sleep at nights! For two years I have felt depressed and even suicidal! Not a single day has passed during these two years that I have thought about how my life is going to be! What are my friends and parents are going to say when they find out that their friend and daughter is a freaking lesbian!?"

Ino was so furious that it almost looked like her eyes were burning.

"Ino please calm down! Let me go!" Sakura tried to calm down the hysterical and angry Ino who did not bother to listen.

"For the first night ever in two years I could sleep without having any guilt, remorse or bad feelings!" Ino kept screaming into Sakura's face before finally letting go of her. Then she limped away some meters away from Sakura while cursing viciously. "Why the HELL did you tell me that now? You could have told me last nigh and I would have taken it better! But no! You want me to suffer and just waited for the right time to strike!"

"Ino I know that this was not what you wanted to hear..." Sakura was not sure what to say or do. She had seen Ino angry before but never this much.

She watched as Ino pulled out a kunai from her kunai holster and kept it ready as if to attack. Frighteningly, Sakura's gaze jumped back and forth between the kunai and Ino's face who was smiling wickedly, the same smile and face before she almost fell down from the mountain although now it looked more sadistic.

"What... what are you going to do?"

"You have saved me two times already Sakura! What do you say; you want to score a hat trick, huh Sakura?" What she was going to do was so shocking as if it was taken from a bad nightmare.

Ino pointed the kunai towards Sakura before raising her own head up so that her throat was very clearly seen. In front Sakura's shocked eyes; Ino put the sharp edge of the kunai on the left side of her throat and started to slowly drag the blade across the skin, leaving a trail of blood and slashed flesh. She flinched and hissed a little from the pain though she did not let it stop her and kept moving the knife across her throat.

"NOO!!!" Sakura yelled panicked and immediately dashed forward towards Ino to stop her from killing herself!

She needed to stop her before her blade could reach her throat artery, thus ending her life! Trying to take the kunai out of Ino's hands with force would be extremely risky; instead she needed to stun her. Pulling back her clenched fist, Sakura aimed for Ino's stomach.

"You are too late!" Ino yelled as she saw Sakura quickly approaching to stop her.

The sharp Kunai only came closer and closer to Ino's artery. To avoid the punch from Sakura, Ino twisted her body to the right.  
It was then something dreadfully happened...

The girls looked at each other as Sakura's punch connected heavily with Ino's body. A strange sound was heard when it landed as if something wet, something hard and something soft all broke at the same time. The power from the combined dash and punch made Ino and Sakura stagger quickly backwards into tree where another sickening sound was heard from inside Ino's chest.  
Both the girls froze in that position with Sakura's fist still pressed against Ino's body. The kunai in her hand hit to the ground with a metallic clang, the sound of it creating a weak triumphant smile for Sakura as she saw that she had done it, she had saved Ino again. If Ino had cut about one inch more to the left her life would surely end.

However when Sakura looked at Ino's face again, she saw something completely different. She had seen many kinds of faces and expressions from Ino: angry, sad, happy, when in pain and when sleeping but never ever had she seen the facial and emotional expression Ino had right now.

Ino's entire body was quivering; her eyes and mouth wide open in shock, wearing a completely white face as if she had seen a ghost.

The seconds went on. For the girls it felt for like an eternity. They continued to stare into each others eyes before suddenly a crystal tear rolled down on Ino's cheek while a dark blood drop rolled out from the corner of her mouth. It was then Sakura realized something really was not right and had gone terribly wrong. Was she too late? Had Ino managed cut her throat? No... the cut did not look deep enough and the cut was far away enough from the critical areas.

Together and slowly, Ino and Sakura moved their gazes down to where Sakura's fist still remained. It all made sense now; it was not Ino's cut that had caused all this. Sakura's punch had landed but not at the spot where she had aimed at.  
It had landed straight on Ino's broken ribs, just where her punctured lung and heart were! Sakura's jaw dropped as she knew how extremely sensitive Ino's wound were. Just stroking her ribs was enough to make her yell in pain so how much pain and damage could a powerful punch do?

"INO!!!"

Sakura terrifyingly screamed her friends name and looked at Ino's face again. Larger amount of blood were now coming out now from the other corner of her mouth and more tears from her other eye. Her facial colour was diminishing.

At that moment Ino's body jolted and coughed up a large amount of blood, some drops landing on Sakura's face, making her go almost as pale as Ino.

"Oh my god! What have I done??"

"Sak...ura..."

Ino stammered weakly. Her voice sounded raspy as something liquid was in her mouth and throat. She staggered a couple of steps forward away from three before the strength in her knees instantly failed her, making her fall into Sakura's arms. Sakura went down to her knees while holding a shaking Ino in her arms.

"INO! Please talk to me!" Sakura yelled panicked out.

"Why Sakura...Why...do you keep saving me?"

"Why?" Sakura frowned a bit shocked. That was not what she had expected Ino to say. "Don't think I will just stand and watch my best friend commit suicide" she replied

"But...I don't want to live...I want to die..."

"Don't talk like that!" Sakura gave Ino a weak slap "Remember that I told you I will never ever let you die!" She firmly told Ino that she intended to keep her promise no matter what.

"You have already killed me Sakura... you have killed my heart. There... is no... reason for me to live anymore."

"I...I had to be honest Ino...I just could not lie to neither of us..." Sakura shamefully broke the eye contact with Ino to look at the ground instead.

"Sakura...don't you get it...for years I have loved you in secret... but I was so afraid...so afraid that you would reject me...now you have found out about me... and just as I knew...you don't love me back as much as I do."

"But you can always find a new one Ino, maybe even a guy. I will help you as much as I can."

"No..." Ino shook her head "you are my only true love Sakura... it is either you...or no one..." I

Ino said before her body jumped again, more blood got coughed up, this time a lot more so it stained both Sakura's and Ino's clothes. Ino grabbed her left chest and held it tight while grunting heavily in pain.

"What's wrong?!" Sakura asked nervously.

"My...heart...it hurts!" Ino stammered. Her breathings started to become more serious.

"Fight it Ino!" Sakura grabbed Ino's hand tightly while Ino coughed up blood again. It was then Ino realized what was happening to her...the same thing she had realized when she was dangling at the cliff although this time it was truly inevitable.

"Sakura... I'm... dying. I can feel it!" More tears ran out from Ino's eyes and down her cheeks.

"No you are not! You are going to live!"

But Sakura's word could not change what was happening to Ino. She just felt how her body got weaker, her senses dulling, hearing getting muffled and eyesight blurry. Everything started spinning for Ino as the nausea came back in her mind.

"I feel so tired... so cold...." She said weakly and rested her head against Sakura's chest Sakura listened to how Ino's breathings just got slower and quieter with each passing minute, the interval between each inhale growing longer.

"Ino please...stay awake" She embraced Ino tightly to warm her cold body. Tears were now coming from Sakura's eyes too, dripping down onto Ino's face. With the last of her strength, Ino said something Sakura would never forget.

"To kiss you...to feel your body...to feel your love...only for one night...to me...that's worth dying for." The sentence was whispered by Ino very weakly into her ears. With a blood stained hand she stroked Sakura's face, leaving red trails on her and smiled again. She looked so tired...so weak...yet...so happy...

Sakura's hand felt Ino's grip gradually weaken until it became totally limp. While still looking into Sakura's eyes, Ino's shivering eyelids slowly closed themselves. The last thing that was heard from her was a long sigh as her lungs exhaled a long breath. One final thought ran through her diminishing mind.

_So this is how it feels when you..._

..._it feels just... like... falling... asleep..._

Everything went black...

A short moment of silence and stillness passed.

"Ino, you still awake?" Sakura whispered and shook Ino gently once to get her attention. "Please say something Ino!"

Like before when Ino had showed no life signs after saving her from falling, Sakura put a shaking hand on Ino's chest...waiting a few seconds until she felt...

"No..." She whispered terrified.

Ino's heart had stopped beating...

End of chapter 11...and the end of Ino?

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**AN:** Is this the end for Ino? What will Sakura think for what she has done?  
2 more chapters to go...


	12. To keep a promise

AN: Looks like the cliff hanger at the end of chapter 11 brought me some extra reviews :) and some good ones too. I thank you all for that for now I am very close to 100 reviews. You were all shocked about the death of Ino and now you ask yourself, is she really dead? Or can Sakura save her? The answer will be revealed in this chapter.

_Italic text is when a character is thinking._

**Bold text is when quoting a sentence from a previous chapter.**

**Replies to reviews**

**Azrael-Shingami:** Hello again. Don't worry about your English, its good enough. I don't usually brag but I think the story is really original.

**Tariki Rania:** That's one of the many reasons why I decided to write this story. There too few Naruto shojo-ai and Yuri stories.

**Xoni Newcomber:** Thanks for a good review. Thanks for pointing out the mistakes about apostrophes in the possessive structures.  
It was a tough decision if Ino would remain dead or Sakura would somehow save her. The decision I made can be found out below if you read the story…

**Bmayes:** Yepp. I love the angsty part myself.

**Ashko:** I take it as a compliment that you nearly cried. I wanted the chapter to be sad and when I find out that it made people cry, I know that I succeded well.

**Efrainman** The reason the grammar was a little bad in the previous chapter was because of two reasons. First I did not check it properly before posting it and second, my beta reader did not have the time to check it.

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**Rivals, Friends, and Lovers**

**Chapter 12: To keep a promise**

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All humans share a fate that can never be changed, the fate of Death! No matter who or what you are, your life will reach its end sooner or later. The only possibilities you have to alter that fate is to decide how and when, never if.

Sakura knew and understood all that…and yet…

Some years ago, after seeing Sasukes _dead_ body on the bridge in the Wave country, Sakura thought that the worse someone could possible see was the dead body of someone precious. She was wrong…seeing someone precious helplessly die in your arms was far worse…

Just a few minutes ago, Ino was smiling and hugging Sakura happily. It was her best time in two years. Yet, Sakura had slaughtered that little feeling of joy for Ino by telling her the least thing Ino wanted to hear, causing a breakdown in Ino's heart which drove her to the decision to attempt end her life by slitting her throat.

Ino was not smiling or hugging Sakura anymore, she was laying motionlessly as a rag doll in her arms, her head resting against Sakura's chest, eyes closed. Her mouth and teeth were covered with red blood with a fresh trail of blood oozing slowly from the corner of her mouth down onto Sakura's clothes.

Ino was not sleeping, taking a nap or being unconscious…She was dead. Sakura stared at the final expression of Ino although it looked exactly as if she was just sleeping.

"No…" Sakura said hoarsely while searching frantically for life signs from Ino. "It can't be…" Heart beat, breathing, pulse, they were all gone. "No please…Ino…don't be dead" She stammered heavily, barely being able to breath with her chest feeling so heavy and aching painfully from the twisting sorrow that was rapidly growing inside her. Gently she futilely shook Ino to make her wake up. Bright crystal tears began to pour from Sakura's eyes down the cheeks that landed on Ino's pale face, mixing with the blood.

Sakura sobbed heavily and hugged Ino's limp body tighter. Her sorrow finally broke her mind as she finally began to understand what she had done to Ino and what consequences it would have. Never ever again would Ino laugh from jokes, letting other people see her nice and friendly smile. She would not ever again be bossy over Shikamaru or to argue with Sakura. Sakura let out a long piercing scream that seemed to go on forever, letting the whole forest hear it, causing many flocks of birds to fly away in fear. She screamed and cried as the angst within in her almost made her faint.

What was she going to say to Shikamaru? To Ino's parents? How was she suppose to live with the fact that she made her best friend attempt commit suicide before getting murdered by Sakura. That she had ended the Yamanaka clan ninja tradition by killing their only child.

"**To kiss you…to feel your love to me…only for one night…to me…that is worth dieing for…" **Ino's last words haunted Sakura's troubled mind.

"Why Ino…" She said with a sad tone, tears rolling endlessly out from her eyes "Why did you not tell me earlier? I would understand!" She took a look again on Ino's still face. "You were in love with me for so long…" She closed her eyes and brought Ino close to her body again while thinking about what was going to happen next…

Suddenly, Sakura froze as her mind went backwards in time to the second day of the current week, the day when Sakura had told Ino a promise that she intended to keep no matter what the circumstances or relations between her and Ino.

**"We may be rivals Ino but I promise you, I will never let you die or get hurt"**

The memory of it actually made Sakura stop crying. She looked down at her chest and hands that were covered with blood, Ino's blood, also feeling the crimson liquid on her face. Frustrated, she bit her lip so hard that her own blood ran out down her chin and started to quiver.

"It can't end here…you are too young to die…it's too soon…" Sakura gaze jumped between Ino's face and chest where her still heart was located beneath the broken ribs.

"No!!" She shouted before laying Ino down on the ground. "I gave you my promise Ino! I won't let you die!"

Sakura intended to try to bring Ino back to life. It was a long shot but she felt she needed to try. She owed that to Ino. Her mind quickly went through the procedures of CPR.

_Press the chest ten times! Tilt her head backwards before blowing air through her mouth while keeping her nostrils closed. Watch for movements on her chest! Repeat procedure! But, her heart has been still too long! I will have to try combining the CPR with healing_

Ino's heart had been still for a few minutes. Any more and it would start taking serious damage due to lack of oxygen. Sakura had to hurry! Sakura could still only cure tiny cuts and wounds with her current healing skills but she was hoping that she could stimulate Ino's heart enough to revive it.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, rapidly forming her hands into various hand seals while moulding her chakra to the hands before finishing the series with the Tiger hand seal.

"Chiyute no jutsu!" (Healing hand technique)

A green sparkling aura formed itself around her hands. She placed her hands on Ino's chest and let her healing chakra surge into Ino's heart.

Sakura followed the exact instructions and steps to perform CPR. She pressed Ino's chest up and down repeatedly while still having her healing technique on, and then blowing a lung full of fresh air into Ino's lungs through the mouth. No signs of success were shown yet, causing frustrating and slim panic to arise in Sakura.

"Come on Ino! You are going to die one day but this is not the day!"

The green light around the hands grew stronger, more intensified as she moulded more amounts of chakra to the hands. Ino's chest got pumped ten times again. Another breath was blown into her lungs. Still no life signs were shown.

A lot of veins started pop out all over Sakuras arms and face as the green light around her hands became so strong that the light was blinding, emitting electrical sounds. It was tearing at her body. Her chakra capacity was rapidly decreasing but Sakura had made her decision. She was not going to give up!. What side was going to win? Sakuras healing or Death?

After have pressed Ino's chest again, blown into her mouth, it suddenly happened. Ino's body jolted once, then twice. Hope returned to Sakura when Ino's eyes were slammed wide open along with some blood coming out from her mouth as her lungs began working again. Her body reflexively coughed to clear the lungs from blood and let the body breath as good as possible.

"YES!!"

Sakura shouted out of joy. She had done it. She had successfully revived Ino's heart and mind back to life. She turned Ino over on her side to let Ino clear her lungs free of blood.

"That's good Ino. Clear your lungs" Sakura said, tears of joy coming instead of sorrow. The danger was not over yet. Sakura's joy for saving Ino's life quickly vanished as she realized the new dangers.

_Ino is still in critical condition! She can die again at any minute or any hour and if that happens, I will never be able to revive her again. _

It had been decided. Ino only had one chance left, she needed to be brought to a hospital immediately and get expert medical attention. Still laying down on the ground barely conscious, Ino moaned in agony, breathing hoarsely, not saying any words due to pain and weakness. Sakura lifted Ino's upper body up to a sitting position.

"Ino I don't know if you can hear me but I am going to move you and take you to the Leaf Village hospital as quick as I can. All you need to do is to fight and stay awake for a couple more hours."

She was not sure if Ino could hear her words or see her as she did not even look at Sakura. Her eyes were bloodshot. Even worse, her breathing was sounding very troubled, shaking heavily while moaning in pain. Just before Sakura tried to lift Ino up, she noticed the tiredness in her body after having spent so much chakra and stamina to heal Ino so carrying her was not going to be easy.

_I can take some time to rest but every minute is crucial! If I start walking now while carrying Ino I will not get far. What the hell shall I do? No matter what happens Ino must live through this day!_

Hoping to find some solution to aid herself and Ino, Sakura began searching Ino's pockets and pulled out something. In her hand she saw the small plastic bag containing the yellow dream berries along with a bigger brown ball shaped object. Sakura immediately recognized it.

_A soldier pill? Where did Ino get it from? It will surely come in handy._

Some changes needed to be done before the hazardous trip back to the Leaf village could begin. First she helped Ino drink some water which she had trouble swallowing, followed by a handful of dream berries. The soldier split she split in two, taking one piece for herself and the other for Ino. Both of them desperately needed the refreshing energies of it.

"Fight for me Ino as much as I shall fight for you"

Sakura pleaded to her before putting her arms under Ino's neck and legs and lifted her up. Ino felt heavy but she could carry her. Again Sakura cursed herself on the inside for being so physically weak. The backpacks Sakura intended to leave behind. Taking them with her would be useless and impossible. Only a water bottle went together with her.

_This is it! It's now or never! I only have one chance_

She thought as she started walking quickly but steadily towards the Leaf village, wanting to rather run instead but that would with no doubt kill Ino quickly. Now that it was day light, Sakura, could much more easier find her way through the forest. As she walked inside it, she checked Ino's status every ten minutes to make sure she would be ok. She could tell by listening to Ino's hard breathing and quiet moans that she was alive.

_Damn how stupid of me! I should have taken Ino to a hospital immediately on the day she got wounded. If I would have not got knocked out before I would have noticed Ino's internal bleedings earlier._

Eventually, Sakura left the forest and started to follow the familiar looking gravel road. She knew that it would take her at leas three hours to reach the Leaf village. She prayed with all her heart that she would reach it in time. Also hoping strongly to meet some patrolling Konoha ninjas that could aid her.

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Two hours later

The sight of the Forest of Life had disappeared behind Sakura a long time ago. Still, she saw no sight of the Leaf village. The thought of possibly following the wrong road panicked her greatly. The good news were though that Ino's was still alive, her raspy breathings and quiet moans told Sakura this. But she had not said a single word since Sakura revived her back to life, not even looking at her. Of course good news always came together with bad news. Sakura was slowly feeling how her strength was fading away as the effects of the soldiers pill was wearing off. Her limbs were aching of tiredness.

_I must keep walking! If I can't reach the village Ino is doomed!_

Stopping for a short moment, Sakura laid Ino down on the ground before repeating the seals for the healing hands technique and put her hands on Ino's chest where her heart and lungs were located beneath. She let the chakra surge from her hands to Ino's only functional lung and her badly damaged heart to strengthen them. This only made Sakura feel more tired but it was necessary. Ino's body was at the brink of death and wanted nothing more but to die.

_As long as her heart keeps pumping and her lung keeps breathing she should be fine…for a while._

Thinking about what would happen if she would run out of chakra; Sakura stopped the technique to save some chakra for later use. Blood was rolling out from the corner of Ino's mouth again. Sakura looked at her face with sympatric gaze in her eyes while wiping the blood off from Ino's mouth with a hanky. Lifting Ino's upper body up, Sakura gave Ino a weak hug and kissed her forehead weakly.

"Everything is going to be fine…" She whispered.

Resetting her grip, Sakura ignored the pain and tiredness in her limbs as she lifted Ino up again and kept walking…

"Just fine…" She whispered even quieter.

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Another hour later

Sakura's limbs felt like they were made of concrete as they felt so heavy that she slowly dragged each foot on the ground. Her legs were aching painfully after a long and tough walk, nearly having lost her feeling in them completely. Her face had lost a lot of colour, staring blankly forward like a zombie, no longer walking but staggering instead as if she was drunk, her body dangling slightly to the sides with each step.

_Must keep…walking…Ino must…live… _

That was her single thought in her tired mind, to keep walking until she could reach the Leaf village, to ensure Ino's survival. She barely had the strength to keep her eyes open. They snapped open suddenly as the last strength in Sakura's knees disappeared in the blink of an eye, causing her to topple forward to the ground. Before she hit the ground she managed to soften the fall for Ino who she was still holding in her arms. Desperately she tried getting back up on her feet but was unable to do so. The feeling in her legs was gone! Her leg muscles were spasming with overwork.

"Noo!" She said frustratingly as she kept struggling in vain to get up. Her attempts stopped suddenly as she heard someone whispering her name below her. The whispering of someone familiar.

"Sakura…" Looking down, she felt her hear twist. She saw Ino, her best friend and rival lying in her arms. She looked so awfully sick with her pale face, blood shot eyes and matching blood coming out from her nostrils and blood. It was a horrible sight for her. It felt like she was reliving the same moment a few hours earlier when Ino's heart had stopped beating.

Sakura had just heard Ino saying the first word since she got revived.

"Don't talk Ino…save your strength. I will bring you to the Leaf Village soon." She tried to futilely convince herself and her almost dead friend. But Ino shook her head weakly before whispering rasped.

"The pain…unbearable…" She took a new breath before continuing. "Kill…me…" What Ino said made Sakura's heard twist so much that it felt like she had been stabbed.

"No…" She shook her head.

"Please…Sakura" Ino pleaded again and looked into her friends eyes. Like a motionless statue, Sakura stared down at Ino with wide open eyes, holding her breath. She could not believe what Ino had just told her, trying to believe that it was just something she had heard wrong.

"Ino let…let me ease your pain with healing" Sakura ignored Ino's words. Clumsily she performed the hand seals for the healing hands technique but as soon as she finished the series of hand seals, she felt a stinging pain as well as if a small electrical current ran through her body.

"Ugh…oh no…" Sakura had no chakra left in her body at all. She could not use any techniques. That panicked her greatly so she kept trying with her attempts to stands up, not getting anywhere closer.

"Please…" Ino's voice was full of agony. The bright tears mixed with the blood shot eyes formed into pink coloured tears running down across Ino's cheeks. A minute that felt like an eternity passed for Sakura as she pondered what to do next. A weak cough and a long painful groan of agony escaping from Ino finally made Sakura make her decision. With Sakura having no chakra or stamina left and she being unable to move and Ino suffering…

_Ino will be dead soon…whether it will be slow and painful death or quick and painless is up to me…_

Gulping, Sakura moved her quivering hand to her kunai holster, grabbing a kunai by the handle. Her breathings became more rapid as she understood what she was going to do and what consequences it would have. When she raised the kunai up in the air, aiming the sharp edge towards Ino's chest, she closed her eyes and took deep a breath, not wanting to see what was about to happen…

"Forgive me…" Sakura whispered…and shoved the Kunai straight downwards…

…

…

…

The tip of the kunai was stopped one inch above Ino's chest…something had stopped Sakura in the last moment. She heard something…

Her tired hearing could not tell what it was but it sounded like muffled voices, talking to her.

Out of nowhere, a pair of figures jumped out in front of the girls. Sakura's extremely blurry vision could not see who or what the figures were but they seemed to try to communicate with her. She was unable to hear the words they were saying. The strength in her mind and body was rapidly diminishing as her body was completely out of chakra.

"Please save Ino…she is dying…" Sakura mumbled weakly, looking down to see that Ino had fallen unconscious. Her aching tired head swung around in circles. Her vision darkened as Sakura's back hit the ground and her mind drifted off, still having the still form of Ino in her lap. The last thing her senses noticed before becoming unconscious was feeling how someone with strong and big arms lifted her up from the ground…

End of chapter 12

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**AN:** See, Ino survived :) When I first began writing this story, I had planned to let Ino remain dead and not be revived by Sakura but I changed it for I wanted the story to end happily and in case I want to write a sequel. Only one chapter remains now and it will be the longest of them all. However, I cant tell when I can put up the final chapter. I am very busy now and will be even more busy next week. The chapter is half finished though and I am very sure I can finish it and put it up within a month. I hope you have the patience to wait that long if necessary and forgive me. But lets hope I can put it up earlier than that.


	13. Awakening

AN: Here is the final chapter for this story. Prepare yourself for a lot to read. Finally I reached 100 reviews :) I thank you all for the support. Man I have been so busy but I managed to slowly but steadily finish the chapter. Even if you like or dislike the chapter, I don't care for as far as I concern I am finally done with this story. I seriously needed to get it off my back and move on. Anyway let's get this over with.

Replies to reviews

**HikaruOfArrow:** Now that this is the last chapter from me for a while, I am going to be honest with you. I appreciate reviews but for gods sake! Say something more instead of just saying "Awesome" in all your reviews!

**Elsiey:** Every story has a end and this is the end for this story. The possibility for a sequel is pretty high so keep your hopes up. I will try to keep you all updated with my ff profile.

**Tariki Tania:** When I first wrote the chapter, Ino was suppose to stay dead and let the story continue on for an additional 5-8 chapters and turn it very dark with lots of angst for Sakura.

**Ziri Okamiotoko:** It was you who sent the 100th review and I thank you for that. But I also thank you for beta reading this chapter for me. You have been really nice and helpful to me. I owe you for that.

**Ashko:** About the sequel, no it will not be a "Op, we're out of the closet and no one accepts us!" fic. You can find more info about it at the end of this page.

**Efrainman:** Hehe you wish. Maybe, maybe not. Read this chapter and you will find out.

**Bold text is when quoting a sentence from a previous chapter**

_Italic text is when a character is thinking_

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**Rivals, Friends, and Lovers**

**Chapter 13: Awakening**

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The first day of a new week had begun. The fresh and grassy scent from the forest could no longer be felt. The chirping sounds from singing birds and the cool wind sweeping through the trees and branches were not heard either. Instead there was the scent of a fresh bed in a ventilated room among with the sounds of humans talking in a room nearby.

The lower half of the room's walls was covered with rectangular vertical wooden planks, while the upper half had no planks but was instead painted in white.

Against the wall opposite of the door stood a bed with white sheets and pillows. To the right of the bed were two pairs of large windows and a wooden night stand. A familiar person was laying beneath the sheets...Haruno Sakura.

She had her eyes closed, her body shaking and sweating as memories of the past were haunting her in her sleep as a bad dream.

"**I love you Sakura... I love you with my entire heart" **The beautiful sight of Sakura and Ino holding each other in a warm embrace, kissing the other was seen before the sight changed to a darker and more dreadful one.

"**I am dying Sakura! I can feel it!"** It changed into the scene of Ino lying in Sakura's arms, coughing up blood and slowly dying with excruciating pain inside her chest. The sight of it made Sakura's face twist in despair in her sleep.

"No...Ino...you can't die...you...you must live...live for me..."

She mumbled before out of warning, her eyes instantly flew open and threw her upper body up to a sitting position, hysterically screaming her friend's name.

"INO!!!"

Both her breathing and heartbeat were short and rapid with sweat drops raining down from her face onto the white sheets. Panicked she swung her gaze all over the room to find out where she was and looked for her friend, expecting to see trees and bushes but instead she saw the environments of a civilized room.

_Where am I??_

The room looked very familiar. She knew she had been here before but when and for what reason? Sakura's head felt heavy and dozy. Her limbs were weak and very numb as well but she could still feel and move them a little but it felt quite troublesome. Some kind of cloth had been tightly tied around forehead. By touching and feeling with her hands, she found out what the cloth was...bandages. That could only mean one thing.

_Hospital? I am at a hospital? So I made it back to the village, but...but what about..._

Sakura's mind and body froze as she realized she was alone in the room. Where was Ino? What had happened to the girls after Sakura passed out? Those questions had to be answered to her to still her upset mind.

_I need to find out about her! I need to see her!_

Her limbs struggled as she tried to get out of the bed. It was then she got reminded how her legs were still hurting a bit and feeling numb. Walking around the hospital in her current state would be very hard, if not impossible. She needed someone or something to help her. In the corner of the room she saw the best solution, a wheelchair that she could use although reaching it would be hard.

_If I can just reach that wheelchair I can move around...but..._

She did not have time to try anything before she suddenly heard someone opening the door leading to the room. Her gaze immediately went to the opening to see a familiar person, a male jounin with grey hair in his late twenties step inside.

"Ka...Kakashi-Sensei!?" She said shocked as if she was surprised to see he was alive.

"Good morning Sakura. So you finally woke up." Kakashi greeted her with a smile beneath his mask but he did not get a reply back that quickly. She just stared at him with open eyes and mouth. After all, he was the first person besides Ino she had met since they had left the village.

"You...uh...I..." She did not know what to say. Her mind was too confused to know what to do or say. That though did not stop Kakashi from communicating with her.

"Good to see you woke up so early. I was worried that your injuries were more serious than what they appeared to be" Kakashi smiled again and stepped closer to Sakura's bed, followed by another question. "So how do you feel?"

She hesitated for a short moment to check her own condition both psychically and mentally before replying back with what she came up with.

"A little light headed. My legs feel like they are made of rubber. Otherwise I guess I feel quite healthy and alive" Sakura responded and Kakashi nodded.

"That must have been quite a trip for you in the forest. Too bad what happened to Ino though." Kakashi said naturally with a sigh and shrug. For Sakura, she froze as she heard the last part of Kakashi's sentence.

_So Ino...did she..._

The shock made her feel an urge to hold on to something. While looking blankly at the wall, her hands grabbed a nearby pillow and hugged it so tightly that the veins on her arms popped out. Kakashi saw how the colours in her face instantly disappeared; making her skin share a similar colour to the white hospital pyjamas she was wearing.

"Sakura?" Kakashi asked while raising an eye brow in confusion, not understanding what seemed to make her so shocked.

_So all my attempts to save her were in vain...?_

Sakura's face twisted itself in despair again, twitching as she tried to keep her emotions back, not to let Kakashi see her weakness. Her fighting was hopeless; the emotional pain was too much for her body and mind to hold back.

She let her open hand clutch her face to hide it as good as she could from her sensei. Wet sobs were heard coming from her, and then followed by wet tears dripping down onto the quilt, leaving wet dark spots.

"Oh god..." Sakura's voice trailed off while sobbing and dug her face into the pillow.

"Why are you crying Sakura?" Her sensei asked with a concerned voice.

"Kakashi..." She squeezed out weakly "I swear to god! I did everything I could to keep Ino alive! Her wounds were too serious! She had internal bleeding, what could I possibly do against something like that?" She cried out hysterically. Kakashi looked down on the ground, not saying anything while listening to how Sakura was crying. He blamed himself as he understood what a massive verbal mistake he had just made.

"Sakura, I suppose no one has told you yet but... Ino is alive." Kakashi informed her about the truth of Ino's fate.

"W...what? What did you say?" Sakura could not believe what her sensei just told her. She stopped sobbing and turned herself around to him, waiting for an explanation.

"Ino is alive. She went through three surgeries during the night. One of them was very complicated and nearly killed her but she made it and will be fully restored in time"

"Where is she now?" Sakura asked eagerly and wiped away some tears from her eyes with her hands.

"She is recovering in the PR section. Would you like to see her? Although you won't be able to talk to her because she is unconscious" Kakashi asked. He knew that Sakura wanted to see Ino. He felt he owed it to her after all the trouble she had been through.

"Yes! Can you please take me there Kakashi-Sensei? I am too weak to move by myself."

"Of course." He nodded. Walking to the corner, Kakashi took the wheelchair and rolled it beside the bed, then helped Sakura sit down in it by lifting her gently. Together they left the room and went down the corridor.

Kakashi and Sakura arrived to the recovery section of the hospital, the area where patients who have gone through surgery are put to recover. The girl in the wheel chair and the jounin pushing it behind her went past many doctors, nurses and white beds with patients in them. Finally they came to stop by a bed that was hidden from view by some white curtains.

"Here it is." Kakashi pointed out "Let me just warn you Sakura, Ino went through three surgeries last night and she still has not woken up. I don't want you to get shocked." He warned and wanted to make sure Sakura was ready for what she was about to see.

"I understand." Sakura nodded, gulping and steeling her mind for the worse.

Letting go of the wheelchair, Kakashi pulled the white curtains away. What Sakura saw was something she was not fully prepared for. Ino was there on the bed, lying motionlessly with white bandages covering her forehead; as well as bandages were around Ino's chest and right knee that were hidden from view beneath the quilt.

A plastic mask had been placed on her mouth and nose that stood connected with a supportive machine helping her to breathe. A beeping monitor monitoring Ino's heartbeat, pulse and brain activity on a screen stood on the right side of the bed. Her vital stats were quite low but steady.

"Kakashi, why, can you explain to me why she had to go through all the surgeries?" Sakura asked, wanting to know as much as possible about Ino and her injuries. Maybe that could make her feel better somehow...or even worse.

"First of all, she had a small internal bleeding inside her skull. Second, she went through a basic surgery to fix her fractured knee. If they had not done that then Ino would have to limp for the rest of her life." Sakura felt some mental relief hearing that. She was reminded about how she would never forgive herself if Ino would have to quit her ninja career because of what Sakura had done to her.

"The final surgery was the most complicated one. I don't know how it happened but Ino's lung and heart had been pierced badly from her broken ribs." He explained. Sakura looked shamefully away for a second for it was after all her fault that Ino was laying there.

"Will... Will Ino receive any permanent damage from this?" She asked nervously, feeling her heartbeat speed up as she expected the worst answer from Kakashi.

"No. She will need a couple of week's rehabilitation but that's all." Kakashi said and Sakura breathed out again in relief, letting the heart beat slowly return to normal, but it sped up again when Kakashi asked her something she did not expect.

"Sakura... what happened between you and Ino in that forest?"

"What do you mean Sensei?"

"The cut across her throat" He gestured towards the partially healed wound with his finger "The doctors have examined it and found out that it was self inflicted. Why did Ino try to hurt herself?"

"She..." Sakura began quietly before she was abrupt interrupted by Kakashi again.

"And after examining her broken ribs they found out that a human fist had hit her with great force. She could not have hit herself so..." There was no doubt about it; Kakashi was a smart person that you could not trick easily. He knew that it was Sakura who had hit Ino and that Ino had for some reason tried to commit suicide. The reasons for those actions though he had no clue about but sooner or later he would find out.

"I guess Asuma was right" He sighed "maybe sending you two together out in the forest was a big mistake from us" Kakashi felt partially responsible for what had happened to Ino and Sakura.

"No Kakashi." Sakura smiled weakly. "It might sound weird but Ino and I...we found each other... the mission was a success. You told us a week ago to write ten pages about what happened?" She let out a quiet smirk. "I think I need to write 20 if I am to write everything"

"I will look forward to read that. I expect to have it delivered to me before the end of the week"

"I understand..." Sakura paused for a few seconds before speaking again "Kakashi, can you please leave me alone with her for a few minutes?" Sakura asked her sensei carefully yet with a pleading voice. Hesitating for a few seconds as he feared Sakura would try to hurt Ino again but he quickly shrugged it off. He knew her well enough that she was not that kind of person. That she would never hurt Ino that seriously on purpose. Still, his mind had many unanswered questions which would have to wait to be answered.

"I understand. I will come and visit you again tomorrow. I can bring Sasuke and Naruto with me too if you think that's ok. They have been very worried about you"

Sakura nodded firmly. Seeing her team mates and friends again would really cheer up. Kakashi waved good bye before going away and just when he was about to close the curtains, Sakura said something with a warm smile.

"Thank you... Kakashi-Sensei."

Smiling back before closing the curtains, Sakura listened to the sounds of Kakashi's fading footsteps that slowly went further away until she was hearing nothing but a little chit chat from hospital staff and sounds from the machines supporting Ino to keep her alive.

She carefully moved the wheelchair closer to Ino's bed and leaned herself forward. Gracefully she caressed Ino's face with her hand while looking at her with sad look.

"Please forgive me Ino, for everything I have said and done to you" Whispered Sakura "I don't know what kind of future we have in front of us but... I don't want it to be a bad one"

For another minute she stared at her sleeping friend and smiled.

"You are indeed a sleeping beauty, Ino...please get better soon...you and I have a lot to talk about... and who knows...maybe share a future... together" Sakura said before leaning herself closer and gave Ino a short and soft kiss on her forehead, then leaving her. What Sakura did not notice was just a few seconds after the kiss, Ino's brain activity counter on the monitor next to her increased...

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It only took two days for Sakura to fully recover from her injuries and exhaustion and could leave the hospital on her own. Ino however was not as lucky with her recovery. The wounds were healing well but she still had not woken up from her coma. The doctors were clueless when she would wake up but were confident that she would sooner or later.

Every day for one week, Sakura visited Ino, each day bringing a fresh daffodil flower to be put on the nightstand next to the bed. Hours could be spent with her just sitting on a chair, observing Ino's sleeping still face as if she was guarding her.

Sometimes she was accompanied by Chouji, Shikamaru, Asuma and Ino's parents, all of them were praying faithfully for their friend, team mate and daughter to wake up soon. But Sakura remained silent about telling everyone about Ino's past problems and sexuality. That would have to wait to be told until Ino's awakening.

When not sitting by Ino's side, she waited in her apartment, waited for someone to phone her and tell her that Ino had woken up.

All that free time gave her a lot of necessary time to think about the past, the present and the future, as well as Ino's love to her and Sakura's possible love to her.

Some days later when Sakura was at home, sitting in her sofa while holding and gazing Ino's medallion, the phone suddenly rang. Hurriedly she went up from the sofa to go and pick the phone up.

"Hello?" She said. On the other side of the line, a familiar male voice spoke to her.

"Sakura? This is Asuma"

"Oh hi!" Sakura said. Her expectations grew as she understood that there could only be one reason for Asuma to call her, to tell her something that concerned Ino. Her heart beat started to beat rapidly as she heard exactly what she wanted to hear.

"I just wanted to inform you that...Ino has finally woken up"

Sakura's eyes widened along with a happy grin spreading across her face. The happiness was so great that she happily jumped up and down, almost falling to the floor.

"Oh thank you Asuma! Can she take visitors?" Was Sakura's first question. She panted quickly in anticipation.

"Yes she can. You are in fact the first to know about this" Asuma replied. That she was the first to find out about Ino's recovery from Asuma made a special thought hit Sakura and a big possibility. She thought quickly about it for a second before speaking up what she had in her mind.

"Asuma...can you do me a small favour? Can you please wait with telling her parents and friends?

"Why? I don't understand." On the other side of the phone, Asuma frowned curiously.

"Please Asuma, there's something incredibly important she and I need to talk about. It will most likely affect the rest of our future."

Sakura heard Asuma taking a deep inhale from his cigarette as he pondered what to say.

"Well...alright. You got one hour"

"Thank you Asuma!"

Sakura and Asuma said good bye to each other before hanging up. Immediately Sakura put on her sandals and rushed for the door. As fast as she could, she ran down the streets of Konoha towards the hospital, not stopping for anything or anyone. She entered the hospital doors and kept running inside the building, up the stairs, dodging the doctors and nurses and even jumping over a patient's bed instead of going around it. Finally she stopped outside the room where Ino was supposed to be resting .There she took a minute to catch her breath.

Checking herself to make sure she looked ok and felt ready, Sakura took a deep breath before knocking gently on the door. No answer was heard from the other side of it. Not intending to leave that easily, Sakura carefully pulled the door aside and peeked inside. The room looked identical to the one Sakura had rested in some days ago. Instantly she set her gaze on the blond young woman lying in the bed who had her face turned away towards the large window. A large trail of sunlight from the outside was seeping in through the glass.

_Ino!_

That Ino did not move at the sound of Sakura opening the door and stepping inside made her wonder if she was sleeping. When she got closer to the bed, Ino slowly turned her head around and looked at Sakura in the eyes. Sakura smiled warmly as they got eye contact with each other, she had never ever been this happy before to see her friend. It made her feel butterflies in her stomach.

However, Sakura's smile faded away as she saw that Ino did not seem to share Sakura's happiness. She looked into Sakura's eyes without smiling the slightest, with a slightly hateful look before then breaking off the eye contact by turning her head away to stare out the window again, not saying anything.

"Are...aren't you even going to say hi to me Ino?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Why should I?" Ino coldly replied, stunning Sakura with her unfriendly voice.

"Because...we haven't talked to each other for days"

"And?"

"And... isn't that what friends should say to each other after such long time of absence?" Sakura frowned. She had expected Ino to be bit happier to see her and not act so...unfriendly. Still not looking at Sakura, Ino said unfeelingly to her.

"You are not my friend..."

"W...what did you say?" Sakura felt her gut twist in despair, eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. She had not expected this to happen during her visit. Ino turned her face around and looked at her visitor with a stern look.

"You heard me forehead-girl...you are not my friend" She repeated herself with a harder tone, even calling Sakura her old nick name, taking Sakura completely by surprise.

"But Ino, why? What's wrong? What have I done?" Sakura asked hurriedly, making Ino smirk a little sickly and turning her gaze away from her.

"And you are suppose to be the brain of us two..." Ino said. Hearing that, the strength in her knees started to fail Sakura, causing her to sit down on the chair nearby the bed to not fall. What was wrong with Ino? Why did she act so coldly and hostile to her best friend who had saved her life three times? Ino had only been awake for a short while but knew that she was in the hospital.

"Looks like you managed to save me for a third time...noticing that I'm still alive and lying here. But next time...I will make sure that there will be no one to save me..." There was no doubt what Ino meant with those words...but she frowned suddenly as she heard a girl starting to sob next to her. Turning around again, she saw Sakura sobbing with a hand against her face.

"Sakura...you are crying..." The sight of watching Sakura cry softened Ino's harsh face up a bit and turned into a more compassionate, more human, kind of like Ino's true and normal face.

"Why Ino... why are you so mean to me? How do you think it felt for me to watch my best friend helplessly die in my arms?" Sakura said, feeling a shiver up her spine as her mind recalled the sight and feeling when Ino's life had left her.

Something in Sakura's sentence had an effect on Ino as she suddenly looked surprised before turning her face away from her. Slowly and steadily, she managed to lift her upper body up to a sitting position.

"I...what...?" She said weakly. Judging from Ino's reactions and how she lost all her facial colour, Sakura stopped sobbing as she realized that there was something that Ino did not know about.

"You...you mean you didn't know? You don't remember?" Sakura asked Ino who shook her head.

"No I did not..." She said scarcely and started to quiver. One of her hands slipped in beneath the cloth of her pyjamas, letting her fingertips feel a large scar on her numb skin that had been left after the surgery to fix her heart, lung and broke ribs. As soon as she felt and identified the scar, Ino gasped surprised as she finally realized what Sakura meant with her sentence.

"Did I die...?" She stammered with a weak voice, clearly showing signs of fear and shock.

"I am sorry Ino but I thought you knew!" Sakura tried her best to calm her down, thinking that this would not be a good time to upset or shock her after having gone through recovery from a surgery. Meanwhile, Ino's mind was in chaos. Her whole head was filled with the events of the last two years

"If...If you hadn't saved me...people would have been at my funeral right now..."

Just the thought of that was enough to cause her body to quiver. She saw and imagined it all so perfectly detailed within her. A lot of funeral dressed Konoha Shinobis standing gathered in front of a coffin. Most of them being silent but there were a few exceptions. She imagined her closest friends and team mate Shikamaru and Sakura crying their eyes out while her father did his best to comfort her mother who could not hold back her tears either. It was a sad scene indeed full of grieving and sorrow for the loss of a beloved friend, team mate, and daughter.

"I can't die yet..." Ino whispered the same thing she had said during her final minute in the forest. "If I die...I will leave a lot of sorrow behind me...a lot of emptiness for those who love me..." A tear rolled down her cheek as she said that. All desires of committing suicide left her troubled mind. The thought of her mother, Shikamaru and Sakura crying was more than enough to redeem her.

"I...I..." She started, slowly turning her face back to Sakura "I remember lying in your arms, feeling so incredibly tired. So tired that you just want to drop and forget everything and immediately jump into a warm and comfy bed. That's what I remember before everything...went black. That's all I remember Sakura..." Ino explained to Sakura. She did not say anything if she remembered the struggle and incredible effort Sakura had made to get Ino back to the hospital, including the nightmarish time when she had begged Sakura to kill her but Sakura felt that this was not the time to tell her that.

She thought that Ino seemed to be more normal now, not staring at her with a hateful look or telling her not to see her again. It felt risky, but Sakura lifted herself off the chair to instead sit down on Ino's bed. They sat and looked into each other eyes for what seemed like an eternity, both of them waiting to see who would talk first.

"I'm sorry Ino..." Sakura began, not knowing how many times she had told her friend that lately. She was interrupted gently.

"No. It's my turn to say sorry to you Sakura...I have torn up your life really badly. It is my own fault that I am laying here. My fault that you had to see me..." Ino broke the eye contact for a second before resuming it. She was not able to say the words "See me pass away...it must have felt horrible for you"

Sakura was just about to open her mouth to reply when she looked down to see Ino holding her hand gently like a good friend.

"I..." Sakura smiled weakly and looked up again "I guess we both have something to feel sorry for...but what's done is done. It is impossible to change the past but we can change the now...and the future"

"The future...what is your future Sakura?"

"My future...is to become a strong and skilled medical ninja so that I never have to helplessly watch my friends suffer...or die" That was something she had fully decided during her time when she had waited for Ino to wake up "But what about you?"

"I...I am not sure" Ino shrugged. "I don't know what kind of future we have ahead of us...but I don't want it to be a bad one" Ino repeated the exact same sentence as Sakura had told Ino while she was in her ? Perhaps Ino's coma was not so deep after all...

"I want to continue my ninja career...but more importantly, I want to find someone special. Someone who loves me for what I am" Ino raised her head a bit and locked her gaze with Sakura. "I must know Sakura...are you the one for me? Yes or no? Whatever you choose, I shall not blame you in any way...or try to hurt myself again. I shall accept your answer and move forward with my life"

The ultimate choice Ino gave Sakura was without a doubt the toughest one ever in her whole life. Whatever her answer would be, it would affect her whole life. She was standing at the largest cross road ever. If she would choose the wrong one, it would not be possible for her to undo it so that's why she had to make sure to follow her heart and choose what she thought would be best.

While Sakura pondered, Ino kept talking.

"I truly meant what I told you there in the forest Sakura. Words cannot describe how much I love you..."

Inside the room was a person who loved Sakura. As far as she knew, Ino was the first person ever who had admitted her love for her. There were other people who have had feelings for Sakura. She thought about each and one of them. Her team mate Naruto who had Hinata, her protector and good friend Lee who was together with Tenten and finally Sakura's last team mate Sasuke who had chose to stand alone. To him, Sakura was just a friend and team mate, nothing more.

_For all this time I have looked for people who love me and want to be with me...I have fought hard to get Sasuke's acknowledgement for so long...And it blinded me, for all that time, there has been someone who loved me...I just looked in the wrong direction._

Both Ino and Sakura were alone. If she said no to her, how much longer will they be alone? How long will it take until they again meet a person they want to love and live with? Maybe Ino would be the only one ever to love Sakura? Sakura closed her eyes to concentrate better and to think deeper. Her mind recalled almost all the events involving Sakura and Ino together for the last two years, how much they had argued with one another but still able to laugh and smile occasionally, how they almost could not stand the sight of each other. But one special week had totally changed their views about each other, especially Sakura. So much had happened that week. Sakura had saved Ino's life three times, watched her try to commit suicide, been through a dangerous storm where Ino saved Sakura's life instead, seen Ino's half-naked body and kissed each other passionately. Was all that in vain?

Sakura's long silence and lack of absence made Ino think the worse, making her turn away and sigh, her face showing how she both looked sad and disappointed.

But she turned back as she noticed Sakura inching herself closer to sit just next to her.

Sakura's hand went inside her pocket to pull out something familiar to both of them, Ino's medallion. Opening it up in front of Ino's face, the picture of Sakura was still inside of it...as was something new...a small picture of Ino.

"Why did you..." Ino asked curiously and slightly shocked about the sight of seeing her picture inside the silvery heart shaped medallion.

"They say that you shall follow your heart right? You told me that you are suppose to keep a picture of your true love inside this medallion. What if two people who love each other both put their photos in it?" Sakura smiled warmly. She moved herself even closer to her friend and put each end of the chain holding the medallion around Ino's neck, attaching the loose ends together and letting go of it to let it rest on Ino's chest.

She put her arms around her neck and placed her head next to Ino. Inhaling air into lungs before exhaling, Sakura formed her lips and tongue to whisper the three unique words into Ino's ear.

"I love you..." Now Sakura's own confession was done. She now understood how Ino must have felt when it was she who confessed to her. Ino gasped in surprise as she heard what Sakura said and understood what answer Sakura had chosen.

"Thank you Sakura...you make me so happy!" She put her own arms around Sakura and hugged her warmly.

"So that means from now on, you and I shall be together?" Ino asked and Sakura nodded.

Both of them led their faces towards the other, letting their lips meet.

"We have about 40 minutes before your parents and friends come here...let's try to make the best out of it" Sakura said with a smirk and they both giggled, laying themselves down onto the hospital bed, giggling cheerfully as they kissed and showed their love for each other.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

One week later

After another week of recovery for Ino, she could finally leave the hospital bed. Still, she had to spend several days inside the hospitals gym to work on her damaged knee. Also, Godaime Hokage Tsunade had ordered her to talk to a psychologist afterwards. After all, Ino had tried to commit suicide in the forest and it was important to prevent her from trying again. She talked a lot with the psychologist about her problems, but it was also with great help from Sakura she managed to solve most of her emotional problems.

Even after such long time, Ino's parents still did not know any details about their daughter's past problems.

After a few days of leaving the hospital for good, the inevitable moment came for Ino to talk with someone who felt she was really special to, and someone who she thought was special as well, Nara Shikamaru.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

On a sunny day in Konoha, Sakura and Ino were walking together in the park where several other people were as usual in such beautiful day. A cane was held in Ino's right hand which she used for support for her right leg that had almost fully healed itself. She had arranged a meeting with Shikamaru, a meeting that could change their relationship forever. Whether it would be for the good or bad was yet to be seen. The girls saw the one they were looking for. Shikamaru was sitting on a park bench, leaning himself backwards while keeping his leg crossed and arms spread up along the back support of the bench. Sakura and Ino stopped a bit away behind him.

"You want me to go with you?" Sakura asked Ino who just shook her head weakly.

"No thank you" She talked quietly, showing that she was very uncomfortable about what she was going to do but was so in a passive unnoticeably way. "This is between him and me. I need to do this alone" She ensured herself to strengthen her resolve. Sakura nodded understandingly before removing her supportive arm from Ino's shoulders.

Using the cane to ease the job for her right knee, Ino left Sakura's side to walk towards where Shikamaru sat while Sakura remained where she was.

She observed her reaching him; greeting each other before Ino sat down next to Shikamaru. Sakura waited and leaned herself against the trunk of a tree and could do nothing but to watch the pair of people on the bench.

As the minutes passed, she saw Ino and Shikamaru began talking with each other like as if nothing was wrong, probably talking about how they felt and what had happened to them lately, some gossip and chitchat. But as more of the minutes passed, Shikamaru's smile faded away bit by bit until he turned his gaze away from Ino completely.

_Looks like she is telling him now...Poor Shikamaru_

He sat with his elbows on his knees, looking blankly down to the ground while Ino talked to him with an arm around over his shoulder.

Sakura sighed and felt sad for Shikamaru. She could not hear what they were saying but he did seem to seem not take the news and truth about Ino so well. He was quiet and looked calm but she could tell that Shikamaru was keeping his true reactions on the inside.

After a short moment, Sakura watched as Ino inched herself closer to him and tightened her arm on his shoulder. From where she was standing, Sakura could not tell exactly but Shikamaru almost looked as if he was about to cry which seemed out of character. Just like Ino, Shikamaru was not the type to cry, especially not in front of girls. Barely, Sakura managed to hold back her own tears who wanted to come out from her eyes as she felt quite the sorrow and sympathy for Ino's team mate and long-life friend.

It was then Shikamaru turned his head slightly to Ino and said something to her which made her almost react the same way as he had! What exactly did he say in a situation like that? Was it maybe a confession as well?

Finally it seemed to have reached its end. Ino slowly stood up on a pair of unsteady knees and left Shikamaru sitting on the bench who did not move, talk or look at any of them. The girls walked forward to meet each other.

"How did it go?" Sakura asked curiously but carefully. That was her first obvious question but somehow felt stupid for asking after having witnessed the whole thing.

"It...I guess it could have gone better but...he will understand in time, I know he will." Ino said quietly, not looking at Sakura until she burst out sobbing. Sakura reached out and embraced Ino consoling.

"He...he said..." Ino sobbed against Sakura's shoulder. Whatever Shikamaru had said, it had upset her greatly.

"It's ok Ino. That was very strong and brave of you."

"Oh god..." Ino wiped away a tear from her eye "That was even worse than confessing to you."

"It's over now Ino; you don't need to worry anymore. Your parents and friends will soon know who and what you are. Even if they won't understand in the beginning they will sooner or later like you said. You will soon be able to return to a normal life without any weird gazes or questions from anyone" Sakura said to Ino while still being together in an embrace. Her words truly helped as Ino stopped sobbing and wiped another tear away.

"Yeah...I understand" She nodded. "Please Sakura; will you follow me back home? I really need your company" She asked her friend and Sakura nodded. Before letting Ino go, Sakura gave her a soft kiss on her cheek before putting back her arm over Ino's shoulder who did the same thing. Together they turned around and began following the street up ahead towards Ino's house.

Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura...   
They started out as bitter rivals...

Turned into trusting friends...

Before turning into lovers...

Rivals, friends and lovers...all at the same time...

End of Story

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

AN: FINALLY I have finished the story and all 13 chapters. Believe me; I am very glad and relieved. It's been both fun and frustrating to write this story.

To those that love this story as well as Inosaku and shojo-ai, I am thinking about writing a sequel. It will take place two years into the future and Sakura and Ino are living happily. It will be as big as this story or maybe even bigger. It will have a lot of drama, romance, and angst just like in this story but also some action and fighting. Also, there will be more familiar characters in it; Shikamaru will have a very big role which was why he was in the final scene in this chapter. In that sequel, you will find out what really Ino and Shikamaru said to each other in a flash back.   
I have most of the story laid out in my head but I can't guarantee I will write it for I like to take my time to first plan my stories before actually writing them. I call myself a good but slow writer. I am a little tired on the romance and drama thing and want to write something with lots of action. We will see what will happen next and I will try to keep you updated as good as I can with my ff profile. Of course you can talk to me over AIM, hotmail, Yahoo or MSN.

See ya and thank you all for the support.


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